Blood, Fire, Venom and Tears
by Stormchaser17
Summary: AU GoF. What would have happened if the Schools involved in the Tri-Wiz were less receptive of Harry's name coming out from the Goblet? What if everyone was against him? And where the icy blue-eyed Slytherin Queen fits in all this? OOC!People Powerful!Independent!Harry. Bashing of some characters around. Good but Misguided!Dumbledore and Harry/Daphne! Betaing in process!
1. A Destroyed Goblet

Hello, everyone. My first story for the Harry Potter section, and my first multi-chapter one, after reading tons and tons of material available here.  
I have the outline of the fanfic in my head, and it should be along five to six chapters long, maybe more but surely less than ten.

Since I am half Italian half American, firstly I hope my English will be good enough for you international readers. Secondly, I do not know a lot of British English expressions, so please bear with me for that. Rating is M for some swearing and future possible intense scenes. In this AU some characters will be OOC, and there will be bashing around. The pairing is Harry/Daphne, my absolute favorite, with a Powerful!Independent!Harry on the stage.

Please Read&Review!

I would like to dedicate this fic to the awesome writer _Dorothea Greengrass_. Her Harry/Daphne stories are simply great, so go and read them!

DISCLAIMER: I obviously, and unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter and everything associated with it. JKR does, and she did a fantastic job in creating our favorite Magical World. I only own the idea of this fanfiction.

"normal speech" - _'thoughts'_ \- _"$parseltongue$"_

* * *

 **Blood, Fire, Venom and Tears**

by **Stormchaser17**

* * *

 **1. A Destroyed Goblet**

"Harry Potter."

Those two simple words. His name.

The beginning of the end of his tale. And, at the same time, the beginning of another one.

Naturally, after three years in a row with a problem after the other, among attacks, shunning, criticism, and so much more, anyone would imagine Harry Potter to break. To finally give in.

And maybe, some individual was literally expecting something like that.

To see the _great Harry Potter_ destroyed before their eyes.

But Harry, _my Harry_ , was made of other things, things which were more resilient and adaptable to any situation. Anyone would have caved in front of what he had to face in his first three years in Hogwarts, without talking about total and uncontrolled abuse, verbal, physical and mental by his supposed 'relatives'.

However, Harry endured, and endured, everything that came his way.

Simply because he was _Harry_.

This time it would have been no different from before. Or, maybe, it would have been the same and different in a whole new sense. And _everyone_ inside the school, and among his enemies outside, was responsible for this.

Everything began on that cursed night, on October 31st, when the Goblet of Fire gave out the names for the Champions of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

As it is now history, Cedric Diggory won the competition for Hogwarts, Viktor Krum for Durmstrang and the lovely Fleur Delacour for Beuxbatons. Everything was going as planned, and the three, followed by their respective Headmasters and the Tournament judges were going in a back room to discuss when that damned Goblet had to ruin everything.

"Mummy! Mummy!"

"Yes, Lily?"

"Is that when you met daddy?"

Daphne Greengrass, now Potter, thought again of that day, fondly, with a smile on her beautiful rosy lips. It was a strange, unexpected, rushed decision, but _the very best_ she had _ever done_ in her life.

She embraced her five-year-old daughter and buried her face in her long black hair making her giggle; she had a fantastic mix of her luscious mane with the color of her father. "Yes Lily, it was somewhere after that."

"Continue with the story! Continue!"

Daphne smiled at the eagerness of her second born, even if it was already the tenth time, she wanted to hear 'the proud and noble tale of her mother and father' as Harry was used to calling it. Mockingly, of course.

"Sure my flower."

* * *

After his name was called absolute silence descended on the Great Hall of the School, and everyone slowly turned his eyes on the small figure of the last Potter, who gave the sure impression of wanting to disappear into the stone floor of the big room, or maybe becoming directly invisible.

A prompt from his neighbor, the muggle born Hermione Granger, was more than enough to shake him from the trance he fell in, and with another shove she made him stand up, and he knew, he just knew, that he could not get out of this situation.

No one noticed his feral expression of absolute fury.

He slowly walked towards his Headmaster, the great Albus Dumbledore, with his too many titles, and the only thing he could see was the sad expression of pity mixed with disappointment. This increased his rage tenfold, and he could not wait to rip the man a new one if things went south.

And, indeed, things went way more than south in the meeting.

"Dumbledore!" Roared Karkaroff. "What is the meaning of this?! It's outrageous that Hogwarts will have two Champions! We of Durmstrang demand a new name extraction!"

It was doubled by Madame Maxime, from the French School, and obviously, by Snape who was calling Harry all the names in the cursing dictionary. There were some never heard before, it was impressive in a sense.

Harry Potter remained quiet, but his eyes were always moving, always active, searching for every bit of information which could be useful to him. _'Maybe this is the time to do it_ ' he thought _'To change everything.'_

Moody noticed this from his secluded spot in a corner of the room and wondered what the boy was thinking to do.

Harry was straight in front of the trophy showcase of the room, and he was surprised when Dumbledore, with a swift move, literally _shoved_ him into it, breaking some glass and making two or three cups fall on the floor.

"Harry, did you put or made someone put your name into the Goblet of Fire?"

Harry stared in his always annoying twinkling eyes and answered with the truth. "No, Sir."

"Ah! Obviously, the little brat is lying! You cannot trust a word that comes out of his mouth Albus. He is a compulsive attention seeking liar!" As usual, Snape was the most direct. And that gave away another round of shouting coming from all directions.

Harry kept his eyes trained on the Headmaster, he would not show cowardice or guilt right now. Only defiance, in front of a situation which he was just thrown into, unwillingly.

The disappointed look did not disappear, and that was almost the final straw.

"Eet iz impossible. Zey want this 'leetle boy to compete? Ah, eet iz out of his leegue!" His blood began to boil, and he tried to convey this message looking finally at the other three Champions in the room.

Viktor was looking at him like he was a bug, ready to be squashed under his boots. Cedric had a sneer on his face, and that was more than enough to understand his thoughts, while the so-gracious Miss Delacour was continuing to spout something in French and regarding him with a look that meant _'I am so above your station that it will not even be funny'._

Harry instead adopted a cold mask of indifference, wanting everything to play out before making some decision. It was about time that he gave what he had to give to the first decision of the Sorting Hat, because being a Slytherin was the best choice in that situation. Suddenly, the limping Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor came out of the shadows and added his two cents.

"It's so amusing! I hear and see everyone here complaining and ranting but the only person who should is not. Care to explain me why?"

All the eyes went on him immediately, and again, the blue-dressed French Champion was the first to voice her opinion. The stupid one, obviously.

"Eet iz for ze fame! And for ze galleons!"

And that was the breaking point for Harry. He tried to reign in the emotion, but it was impossible. He started to laugh so intensely that for a moment you could think he had been possessed, or put under the Rictumsempra Curse. He was laughing so hard that he had tears cascading from his eyes and it was maybe a minute until he regained control of himself.

"And where is the fun in what Miss Delacour said, _Harry_?" That was Cedric, saying his name with venom in the word, and being awfully protective of the silvery blonde haired witch. Was there something else going on? Maybe the boy liked the girl?

"I'll answer you, Cedric." Still regaining his bearings among bouts of laughs. "I am a Potter. Harry Potter."

Snape immediately went to say something, but Harry silenced all the present in the room, _with the simple movement of his hand_. Everyone went wide eyed at that.

"And, since I am Harry Potter, I am the single most famous wizard in the whole country, and maybe even in some foreign ones. Short of Dumbledore here, naturally." He paused to look at his potions professor. "I'm sure that now the greasy one wants to say that I am just like my father, always bragging and so on… and as the muggles would say, that music is old."

He paused again, and swept with his eyes over the room. He wanted to see their reactions. The Headmaster was the most unnerving one, always showing a mix of emotions impossible to fully decipher; Snape had pure and undiluted hate on his face; Professor McGonagall was looking at him with a mix of surprise and again, disappointment.

Moody was grinning from ear to ear and, with his scarred face, that was a very bad sight; the other schools were furious and the Champions mirrored the emotion very well. Finally, the judges of the Tournament were looking around like him, not knowing how to defuse the whole situation.

"Furthermore, I may have been in my personal Vault at Gringotts only a single time before my first year, but I remember piles and piles of gold, and silver, and bronze in it. So really, one thousand galleons to participate in this deadly tournament? Please."

He regarded them with pity. Such potential and surely capable minds filled with stupidity. It was almost a sad sight to watch.

"So, we erased the two reasons that our _gracious French princess_ said." There was sneering in his words, as well sarcasm. He did not forget about the 'leetle boy' thing. "Someone wants to add some intelligent thing to the conversation or have we finished here?"

He canceled the spell with another twist of his hand and crossed his arms in front of him. If they wanted to play, the game would be on them.

The first one out of his reverie was his Head of House. "Mr. Potter! I cannot say how much I am disappointed in…"

"Professor McGonagall. Please, I said intelligent things." He interrupted her with a scowl. "When I came inside this room I already noticed that for every one of you I was already guilty, it was clearly on your faces. So, let's skip the useless _pleasantries_ , cut this farce to the chase, and go straight to the core of the matter."

"Headmaster, I suppose I cannot withdraw out of this, am I right?"

Albus Dumbledore regarded the teen steadily. This was a completely unexpected development, and he was not ready to confront the rapidly evolving matter. He tried to salvage what he could of the situation, and after that, he had a lot to think about. "Harry… the Goblet is a magic tool, a very powerful one, and when your name came out of it… it is like an agreement of sorts. You must compete, it is required by its magic."

Harry expected the answer, but it was none the easier to hear it. "So, another time, I'm in the middle of something which I cannot control. Really, a great job Headmaster."

Now the look on the boy's face was of pure contempt. And they were the ones disappointed in him. He instead, was the one totally _disillusioned_ in them.

"Mr. Potter, you cannot accuse the Headmaster of this. It is unbecoming of you to…"

But what the feline professor was trying to say was again drowned in the new uproar caused by the other people in the room. In particular, this time, the other Champions were listing some interesting expressions, even in their native tongues, he was sure of it.

Harry paid them no attention, wanting to see the reaction of the Headmaster, and hoping he would make everyone stop to discuss the thing.

Instead, he just let everyone say their piece on him, vilifying words, hurtful words, words of contempt, promises of maiming him, to watch his back when he was walking around the Castle, to be ready for everything because _he would severely pay_ for what he had done.

When their steam ended, all the people expected to see a destroyed boy, pleading for forgiveness or mercy. Instead, they just saw a calm and collected Harry Potter, who was still looking at the Headmaster. Truly, he got the Slytherin thing down very well. He should have done it before.

"So, Headmaster, you heard what they said about me and the situation I'm in. Can I count on your assistance about that or do I have to do everything by myself, _as usual_?"

"My boy…" How he hated when he called him such! "…their words are just spoken out of anger for this situation. You have to forgive them and move on." And his eyes were twinkling again. Damn him!

"Let me understand, Cedric here just told me that all his House would be _hunting_ _me out for blood_ around Hogwarts and I have to let that pass?" He pointed at him with his eyes.

The other Champion was surely not remorseful of his words and it showed on his face.

"You do not have to worry Harry. You are perfectly safe inside the Castle."

The snort from almost all the others did not go unnoticed by the teen, and he just rose an eyebrow.

"Safe? Safe as in Second Year Headmaster? When all the school shunned me and I had to battle a monster to survive and to save everyone? Just after going after the troll and Quirrelmort during my First Year, and followed by rats, werewolves, and Dementors in my Third?"

If Snape had a child, and this child had the sneer which was on Harry Potter's face right now, he would have been proud of it.

"Now Harry, there were some incredibly rare coincidences in the past but you do not have to keep everything inside you. It will be bad for your mental health."

"Ah! My mental health! I lost that one in years and years of abuse by my _oh so loving family_ of muggles!"

"My dear boy, I am sure you are exaggerating about them, they treated you well and they continue to do it every summer."

Oh dear, he really believed that.

It was almost a whisper, his answer to that absurd affirmation. "Well? Dear Merlin, Dumbledore, you are blinder that I could have ever imagined."

Cedric interrupted their conversation, and blatantly accused him. "Come on _Potter_ , you do not think that we will believe you when you tell us that you have killed the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, like the rumors said at the end of the year?"

He finished laughing, and when the others understood they did the same. "Really!? A basilisk? Such fantasy! I told you he was an attention seeking liar! Eediot 'leetle boy! You don't ever know what you are talking about!"

"I could tell you, Cedric. But you will not believe me."

His face darkened instantly, the green in his eyes doubled, tripled in intensity until it was almost glowing, and his irises became _slits_ , like the enormous serpent that he had slain. But if this scared everyone instantly, what he did after transformed their blood to ice.

" _$I will tell you thisss inssstead. I will dessstroy you all.$"_

Using Parseltongue had always the same beautiful effect. All the conversation immediately stopped, and he was rewarded with shocked and scared expressions. It was such a great view.

"Harry, what did you say to them?"

The young Potter looked again at Dumbledore and answered. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Eventually."

Then he addressed the judges. "So, is there something that we have to know about the Tournament or this stupid meeting can come to an end?"

Ludo Bagman was the first out of his reverie and said swiftly, not wanting to further anger the boy. "The first task will be around the end of November. The 24th to be precise."

He paused a little to wipe the sweat on his forehead. "We cannot tell you what it will be, because your reaction towards the unusual and the unknown is an essential feat for every wizard. We can only tell to prepare at the best of your capacities."

And that was all, Harry pulled out his wand from his sleeve and unlocked the door to the Great Hall.

Unfortunately, he still had to receive his greatest and worst surprise at the same time.

He purposely kept looking ahead of him, not wanting to see the expressions of his classmates, which he was sure to be a furious one and only when he reached the Gryffindor table pandemonium exploded.

"Hey, cheater!"

That _was not_ a voice he wanted to hear, the one of his very first human friend, Ron Weasley.

He kept walking ahead, ignoring him, and seeing the scowl directed at him from Hermione, he canceled even her from the list of his allies. It was very true, that the most intelligent people could be also the most stupid in certain situations.

"Cheater! I am talking to you!"

What he did not expect was the red head to come towards him running and punching him straight on his shoulder, to double it on his face when he turned around.

In the meantime, all the professors came out from the room, and they were standing there, simply watching and not doing anything. The Champions had happy faces in seeing the show, and the only one who had a reaction was McGonagall, who brought a hand to her mouth in surprise.

He tried to reason with his ex-friend, but he already knew that it was impossible. His stupid inferiority complex was too big.

"Ron, listen to me, I did not put…"

He was not able to finish because another punch forced him to silence, and socked him straight in the eye. Another gasp from some of the professors, but again, no interference from their side.

"I should have imagined it, Potter! Do you want everything given to you, right? You have the money, the fame, and now you can maybe even score with some chick because you did this, eh?"

"Ron, please…"

"You cannot go on every year and do something that will bring you even more fame eh?! You disgust me, Potter, you and all this circus you put on all the times! And we are always risking our lives for you like idiots! Getting nothing out of it!"

Ah! That was the problem. The git was jealous of his money, fame, hypothetical girls, and wanted more and more out of him.

And _this_ was his _friend_?

He had to be blinded by something to accept his company!

And he knew what it was. The deprivation of any human contact in his childhood, a gift from the long bearded individual near the main table of the Hall and the Dursleys.

He looked at the Headmaster for a single second, watching if he wanted to intervene, but as usual, the man was a perfect waste of space.

When Ron charged again for another punch… that was the final straw. And the old Harry Potter was _no more_.

He simply blocked it, stunning Ron for a second, and mustering all the strength he had while remembering his fights with Dudley and his stupid gang of people, punched the boy in the stomach with such force that he actually _heard_ a couple of ribs breaking, and obtaining the effect of cutting his breath from the source.

The second punch was to his face, maiming heavily his nose and sending him straight to the floor, where he fell in the middle of his own vomit and blood.

He spoke then, with a soft velvet voice, which was full of steel at the same time. "Well, _Ronald_ , if you are so envious maybe we can level our situation, eh? It seems that you want to be like me so much…"

" _Maybe if I kill you parents, your brothers, and your sister, and make you an orphan, you will be like me, mmmh?"_

That managed to make everyone in the whole Great Hall go white and trembling. The first and second years were simply terrified and didn't know what to do.

"Because remember, idiot, I am who I am because my parents _died_ to give me the fucking possibility _to live_! And now, I am thinking about how much I have disappointed them in slacking off like you, a pathetic and envious child, while doing stupid things with a person who was always jealous of me."

"Harry!" The bossy one decided to open her mouth. "What are you saying? Are you out of your mind?"

"Well, _Hermione_ , I am not seeing you defending me here. Something to tell _Ronald_ about his actions?"

"Harry! You have to understand… What about yours? You threatened to kill everyone in his family!"

"What?! What do I have to understand, _Hermione_?"

"Harry, you know…"

But the light blush on her cheeks, and the fact that she was continuing shifting her sight from the red head to him and back again, gave everything away. He could have been a social recluse, but certain things were easy to pick on.

The girl _liked_ the boy.

"Now it's clear, _Granger_. So, when he punches me and says whatever crosses his reduced pea-sized brain, everything is ok. But on the opposite…" He regarded her with pity.

"Remember that sometimes you are _wrong_!"

The expression on the bushy haired girl face was indignant.

"Honestly!" Now she was screeching, and that was annoying, it seemed like that overbearing Molly. Wonderful woman, but too oppressive. "First you do this thing with the Goblet, then you punch Ron, then…"

"So, in the end, you think that I put my name in, right? Is it the thought of all the House?"

The look which he received were more than self-explanatory, but the powder keg was ready to explode, the tension was already past above its maximum.

"Diffindo!"

The Cutting Charm went directly at him, he did not see who cast it, since it was behind him, but it was sure it came from the Gryffindor table. And, unfortunately, he was so enraged in his mind about all the situation that he did not manage to evade it in time.

It went straight _through_ his wand hand, cutting two of his fingers, and his magical focus in two clean pieces.

He gave out a grunt when after an instant his nerves registered the pain. It was excruciating, and for a moment his sight gave out, being replaced by an unfocused mess.

Harry tried to bring his hand next to his face to see better his wound, but when he moved the arm pain spiked again from where his fingers were cut off, and he collapsed on the ground, managing only to not cry out for the intense pain.

Tears were falling down his cheeks, and he also bit his tongue inside his mouth from the sudden event. The metallic flavor of blood invaded his taste senses, while all the Hall descended into silence.

There was a single moment of uncertainty, and then everything went to hell. It started slowly, and he could manage to avoid the attacks thanking the self-training he did during the previous years, but it evolved quickly in a more and more uncontrollable situation, when he saw the swarm of spells coming towards him from almost every student in the Hall.

"Diffindo! Defodio! Incendio! Tarantallegra! Incarcerous! Stupefy! Confringo! Expulso! Filipendo!"

It was almost impossible to dodge every one of them. He would have been surely hit. The only solution was to stand his ground.

Fighting through his suffering he managed to put his good hand on the stony floor, fingers spread open, and yelled.

"Protego Maxima!"

His golden shield encased him, just in the nick of time, and it immediately began to sustain all the spell damage. The problem was that someone began throwing him food and goblets, even some dishes, from all the directions, and the shield did not provide cover for physical objects.

Harry sustained the onslaught, his shield never wavering, with continuous spells washing over it, and his resolve getting stronger and stronger. His eyes trained on the professors, and on the Headmaster, with disgust in his eyes, and etched on his features.

 _Revenge will be mine. Against all of them!_

Shots of adrenaline invaded his bloodstream, opening the way for his healing powers. Harry began to feel less and less agony from his maimed hand, which was still bleeding though. He thought about firing back, since he was somewhat versed in wandless spells, but unfortunately he needed all his concentration to sustain the golden dome around him, while fighting to regain full control over the pain. The bitter irony was that he had planned to use this year to study and practice more advanced incantations, which would have been useful now.

Shortly after, everything slowed down and then ended. There were only red and puffing faces in the whole place, enraged about everything that he had said and done.

The Hufflepuff students had something in their hands, every one of them, from cutlery to goblets, from fruits to actual food, among the other things. The Ravenclaws were a little bit more reserved, but in the end, their reaction was the same.

The Gryffs were all on their feet, the Twins with some boxes ready to launch at him and the jinxes inside them already active. He could feel something on his skin, like boils, and he knew from where it came. Ginny had her wand trained on him, like Hermione.

He did not need to look at the Slytherins, since he already knew their expressions. A shame, because he would have seen a familiar couple of icy blue eyes looking at him with hidden concern.

Harry waited for a couple of seconds more, then released his shield, always ready to cast it again.

"Great job with that shield boy! Awesome display!" Moody was crazy as always but, nonetheless, he felt a little bit proud of what he had done.

He slowly got up, covered in food and pumpkin juice, with bruises on his face, a black eye, boils on the right side of his body and a bleeding cut on his cheek and forehead. He noticed that Ron was still moaning on the ground like he was almost dying from a couple of punches.

"Headmaster, your thoughts?"

Dumbledore snapped out of his reverie. "Harry, my boy, you have to understand their mood and spirit in this particular situation."

Harry was not amused, especially in his current condition. "So… I have to forgive them, and move on?"

"Yes Harry, they will understand their errors in time." The old man was smiling now, glad that finally the point he wanted to prove passed onto the boy.

"Good. Good." He slowly brought up his cut appendage, fighting against another wave of pain coursing through his arm.

"And what should I do about the fact that I lost two fingers." He showed his mauled hand to everyone, that was still dripping a little with fresh blood. "More importantly, the fact that my wand was cut in two?"

"And, may I add, to a curse from behind from the _oh so glorious and brave_ House of Gryffindor? _Such a shame_." He said in a mocking voice. The Slytherins sniggered at the display, while some members of the red golden table cringed about it.

"My boy, it is an unfortunate consequence of everything. I am sure we will be able to think about something, if you come to seek my advice."

He just nodded in mock acceptance. His rage was topping over now.

After that, all the students acquired a new piece of knowledge about a simple yet complex thing regarding Harry Potter, perfectly related to the school's motto: _'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus' – 'Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon'_.

In this case, the Dragon, or better, the Basilisk, was the boy at the end of the Great Hall.

His eyes were burning with uncontrolled anger and his magic was going raw. They were even more green than the Killing Curse, and someone swore that they saw _green smoke_ coming from them. It was a captivating and terrifying sight at the same time.

He extended his good hand, noticing that his arm was cut and bruised too, and his uniform was almost in tatters. All the forks and knives in the Great Hall began to levitate slowly, and at the same time, trying to morph into something else.

The look on Harry's face was impossible to sustain, and his irises became slits again, but no one noticed that.

"Mr. Potter! Stop immediately what you are doing!"

"Professor McGonagall. Where were you, when what happened, happened?"

That silenced her but gave way to Snape to open his filthy mouth again. "You deserved it, Potter! Liar! Scum! Your parents are turning in their graves looking at you!"

Oh! That _was the wrong thing to say_.

All the cutlery suspended in the air transformed immediately from their half-morphed state to long, thin, and very spiky shiny steel lances.

Each one of them pointed at every eye of every student inside the room.

Ronald Weasley was the first one, and the last, to open his fat mouth, even if he was terrified of having two steel spikes just in front of him.

"I always knew it! You are a Dark Wizard! Look at this, you will kill everyone!"

Harry simply laughed, more and more at the simple thought! "Really, _Ronald_? And someone can tell me what oh-so-dark spells am I using?"

Not giving time to answer he simply answered himself. "A Wingardium Leviosa, from first-year Professor Flitwick's class, paired with a Transfiguration spell… oh, done by Professor McGonagall also in the first-year class!"

He continued to laugh. "Such _dark spells_. I am truly the darkest mage on this land! Fear me!" The irony was very strong with those last sentences.

Immediately he became serious again. "Now, if I were to do something like this, after losing two of my fingers, then _with time_ _I would be forgiven_ , right Dumbledore?"

The venom in the voice was so thick you could imagine seeing it dripping from his mouth.

"Harry, please, you are overstepping your bounds, and I will be forced to intervene if you do not stop."

The distance was reduced to half in a single shot, and almost everyone screamed in terror since they noticed that the spikes followed the movement of their heads. No matter where they were trying to escape, they remained fixed on their eyes.

"And, as I already asked Professor McGonagall, where were you, _Headmaster_? Where were you when everyone humiliated and attacked me in the middle of the Great Hall?"

"My boy…"

Suddenly, every piece of every absurd adventure that happened to him since he started studying in the School four years before fell into place, as going to complete a bigger puzzle. And it made so much sense!

" _This_ " he spat "is another of your stupid games and trials, right?" He was coldly laughing. "To see if I am worthy of something you only know about, am I right?"

"Do not think for a single moment that I have not understood what you were doing through my years here Dumbledore."

He paused and looked straight at him. "And, I suppose that this time I did not pass."

"Harry, please…"

 _"$Thisss year will be the lassst one I will be playing your ssstupid gamesss with my life!$"_

All the steel spikes moved instantly, towards a new target, the Goblet of Fire!

The movement was so sudden that all the students cried in fright, thinking they would have gone blind, or worse, killed. The no-more-cutlery pieces sped and sped towards the object in the center of the Hall, and in the meanwhile, Harry began to draw something on the floor, using _his own blood._

Hermione screamed "Blood Magic!" while her companion Ron was repeating and repeating "Dark Wizard! I knew it, I told you! He is a Dark Wizard!"

"Shut the hell up you two morons! Or I'll show you what _I am really capable of_!"

The ex-cutlery embedded one after another into the sides of the Goblet, as its flame went from the normal blue to an angry orange, before setting into an ominous dark blood red.

The last spike was what remained of the upper portion of his wand, coated in his blood. It went straight through the Goblet, from one side to the other, and when a single drop of blood fell into the flame, it happened.

The professors were too stunned to do anything in time, and the only warning came from Harry's voice.

"You said that the Goblet would have stripped me of my magic if I went away. Since it is so hungry of magic, _I will have it all for me!_ "

At the same moment the drop of his blood touched the angry flames, a burst of magic energy made all the stained windows in the Hall explode and shatter into thousands of pieces, falling on the students and cutting them in some way or another. A good punishment, he thought.

The burst seemed to go on endlessly until it suddenly stopped in front of him, and started going in reverse towards the Goblet, which was looking more and more contorted and deformed with the passing of time.

Waiting for the explosion Harry readied himself, channeling his magic into the main rune under his feet. A _syphoning rune_ , the worst and maybe darkest of them all, since it enabled if cast correctly with the caster's blood, to _steal magic_ from objects.

A shame it did not work on people.

Once the runic circuit was fully activated, Harry Potter was surrounded by red light, and five runes carved ethereal columns, forming something like a pentagram around the boy.

No one noticed that the blood had actually _eroded_ the stone floor like it was some kind of _acid_.

As the wave went again inside the Goblet of Fire, the flames extinguished themselves, and the big cup exploded releasing all its magic, which went towards the first absorbing well it could find. So to speak, towards Harry.

The magic sped faster than a blink of an eye, and he was engulfed in a strong vortex which tore his already cut dress into pieces and made him grunt and crouch on all fours for the pain due to the sudden influx of energy.

The whole process lasted an entire minute, and when the vortex dissipated Harry was still there, covered in cuts, bleeding, but alive, and _powerful_.

"Harry, what have you done?" The Headmaster whispered. He had never seen something like that. Studied yes, researched, yes again, but put in practice, never.

Simply because there was no magical item more powerful than the Goblet itself, saving maybe Horcruxes or the very Hogwarts Castle. But in that case, the receiver of the magic would have simply been killed by the enormous amount of it.

The fact that Harry was still standing and conscious was an astounding feat. It was a pitiable situation, because if not for the prophecy, Harry would have made truly a great mage.

"Harry! Where have you learned about that rune? It's a Dark one!"

"Funny that you are asking me that, _Granger_. And save me your useless opinions." She cringed at the use of her last name. "I have to thank you actually."

This stunned her, and everyone else, professors included.

"What… what do you mean?"

"Well. If I did not have a _nagging bossy know-it-all_ bitching all last year about the importance of Runes because I -and I admit it- stupidly chose that fraud that is Divination, I would have never learned about it."

Those words hit straight to her heart. She knew she forced people to learn, even exaggerating in some cases, when it was not her place to do it. She _knew_ that not everyone shared her passion in almost every subject, but it had always been difficult for her to restrain herself.

And, furthermore, she was fully aware of being overbearing in showing her prowess in the studying field. It was because of that that no one liked her in her pre-Hogwarts years.

But hearing this from her friend, who saved her from the troll, had the same effect of a bullet.

"And no! Don't start crying right now!"

" _Granger_ , you, like a lot of people in this school, are a very gifted witch. And I thank you for all the help you gave me in the last years. Especially the last one."

This almost managed to bring a smile to her face. The Buckbeak time-travel adventure had been truly a great one, even if a frightening one.

"But, you, like everyone else here who today thought that I have broken your trust and got my name inside those charred remains of a Goblet, and attacked me for whatever idiotic reason, without having any _proof_ but rumors and voices…" He sneered loudly. "…You all lost _my_ trust. So, please, never _ever_ cross me again."

" _You will not like the consequences."_

"Shut up you Dark Wizard! You are not welcome here! Go away to You-Know-Who and wait there for your end!"

" _Weasley_ , you and your family here made your position really clear as of ten minutes ago, more or less." He looked at the Twins and Ginevra with contempt. "Never speak to me again, or I will do _more than breaking some bones_!"

The Twins were conflicted, but after hearing about killing and such they just went with their emotions. No one threatened their family, Harry included. But they never considered, at the worst time possible, the situation and the words of their stupid younger brother.

Ginny was bawling because she knew that now her dream was shattered. Harry would be impossible to obtain for her. They had been stupid and went with the idiotic flow of the sheep in Gryffindor House.

"Ah, and Headmaster…" Harry spoke again to the aged wizard. "… about the treatment given to me by my _family_ of muggles."

Harry disrobed, making his broken dress disappear, and everyone froze on the spot.

The scars.

 _The scars!_

His chest and upper arms were covered in wounds, old ones under the fresh of the evening, but they crisscrossed every part, creating a web of faded skin, and making him comparable to the muggle Frankenstein monster, for the ones in the Hall who understood the reference.

It was a gruesome sight to see, and many lost their dinner just where they were seated. Minerva McGonagall simply stood rooted where she was, devastated for the destiny of the little Harry Potter, whom she helped herself to place in that damned muggle home.

In her mind, there was one thought, directed at Albus, his image of leadership cracking before her eyes. _'I had told you. I had told you they were horrible muggles.'_

The very same Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster, Supreme everything, seemed to age on the spot, at least fifty years in a couple of seconds, when the reminder of all his faults and errors reached him. He had failed him, and his parents.

Severus Snape was still sneering at him. What if some stupid muggles had abused the boy? It was surely well-earned by the Potter spawn. True, he hated Lily's sister with a passion, she was a horrible person, and his boyfriend, now husband, was even worse. Nonetheless, the boy had to do _something_ to receive that punishment, like during his Potion class.

But the final surprise had still to come. Harry simply turned and showed his back.

The gasp of horror that the student gave was enough to make him understand that they had seen the worst one.

On his back, along his spine, and from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, was a _cross_.

A cross _branded with a hot iron tool_.

Like what they did on the wizards and witches during the trials centuries before.

"Do you know when is this from, Dumbledore?"

The Headmaster was silent. He simply shook his head in a negative gesture.

"They tried everything to _beat my magic, my freakishness_ , _out of me_ during the years." He gave a shallow laugh. "But obviously, it was not possible to do it with beatings, broken bones and bleeding skin."

"So! They called an exorcist to _strip my magic from me_."

Hermione inhaled sharply. Certain horror films coming to her mind. And all the muggle borns had the same reaction.

"When what he was doing did not work, they decided _to brand me_ like a _monster_."

Harry fixed the Headmaster in the eyes.

"Like the _monster you helped to create!"_

"And, imagine what! I came to Hogwarts awaiting a new different world… and what did I learn?"

Again, a shallow laugh. "That everyone here is a fucking sheep, ready to follow the flow of things without thinking! That when something like _this_ happens… well, you all have seen the results."

"I do not hate the world of magic. Magic is a wonder, and a continue surprise to me. But I hate all the stupid people who live in it!"

Harry twirled around, extending his arms to prove his point. "I do not know why I am who I am in this world, just having survived a Dark Lord when I was simply one year old!"

"Really! What the fucking hell do you imagine I had managed to do at that age? You really think that I had some hidden power which can erase people on the spot?"

He squinted his slit eyes at them. _"Because, trust me, it would have been damn useful now!"_

Harry spit on the floor, showing all his disgust with the situation and the people in front of him.

"Thanks to I don't know who, I have to participate in this farce of a Tournament, together with three _companions_ who loathe me just for _stealing their spot_."

"To them, I tell again what I told you in the room. I. Will. Destroy. You. All!"

He was finished, and turned to go out from the Hall, since he badly needed to concentrate and heal all his new wounds. But the voice of his ever-present antagonist came out for the first time and stopped him.

"Potter, you pathetic half blood! Do you think that this stupid show and the glamour on your body will convince anyone!? Do you think that your sob story will bring someone to your side?"

The blonde little boy laughed heartily at the simple thought.

"Even your friends abandoned you! You have all Hogwarts against you! And other two schools think the same! You will not survive to tomorrow, or you will die in the Tournament!"

He concluded, and he seemed even satisfied about his little stupid speech. And, as the sheep everyone was, people began murmuring agreements towards what Malfoy had said regarding what had been shown to them just minutes before.

"Fifty points to Slytherin for defending the School honor. And one hundred points from Gryffindor for being a fraud and a liar."

Obviously. But the fact that the Lion's points counter did not go down was immediately noticed.

"Potter! What have you done! You are already in deep trouble for everything you have…"

"Shut up Snape!" That made everyone turn around their necks, some creaking here and there was heard from the speed of their heads. The Professor's face was red with rage.

"Mr. Potter! Professor Snape…"

"And you shut up the same Minerva!"

" _I_ remember what you said to every first year when we came in. Do _you_ remember it?"

The Transfiguration Professor was still dumbfounded from the outburst of his student. Never, in her long career, she had been disrespected in that way.

"It was something like… _Your House is like a Family where each one will look after each other_."

Harry paused to make that sink in. "And look at that, the _brave_ Lions were the first to curse me, _towards my back_!"

"What would I want to do with a house of pathetic _jackals_?" They all recoiled at that caustic affirmation.

" _I formally disclaim myself from the Gryffindor House and all its pitiful people."_

All the students were again shocked. The very same Golden Boy just renounced to his house! And someone recognized it. You had to have _true courage_ to do something like that.

"Good! We did not want you inside our House anymore Dark Wizard! And you better watch you back in the future!"

Well, right now he was tired of dealing with the freckled boy, so he just looked at his Head with eyes telling ' _What did I just tell you?'_

Then he turned to Malfoy. "Dear Draco… I may be pathetic, without friends, a liar as you continue to believe, or everything else." The white-blonde boy was smirking openly at that declaration. That smirk was canceled after two seconds. "But, at least, I'm not the son of a Death Eater."

That outraged and silenced the boy, who went from pale to red-faced in the span of very little time.

"How dare you! When…"

"Yes yes, when my daddy blah blah blah." He looked at him with a mix of pity and disgust. "Are you sure you are a Slytherin Draco? No, I'm telling you because that was my first choice, and I had _to plead_ the Hat to put me among those stupid Gryffs."

Well, that silenced everyone. Again.

At the golden table boys and girls were confused, enraged, fearful, disbelieving, and a myriad of other emotions. Ronald Weasley had the expression of a sour lemon painted on his face, and Hermione Granger finally understood that, unlike she liked to say, she _did not know everything_.

"You all can ask him if you want. And, trust me, I can be more Slytherin than you, and it would be easy since your behavior is well comparable to the one of those with the red and gold dresses."

"Bye Draco. And to everyone else. _Stay the Hell away from me_!"

Saying that, he went out from the Great Hall, leaving his temporary audience of students, professors, Tournament organizers and foreigner guests.

Just three steps out of the doors, which closed after him, and pandemonium began anew!

Everyone was shouting about something, and only after ten minutes the professors managed to bring again the calm among them. But, as they were sheep, almost everyone kept Malfoy's or the Champion's words for true, or near-truth.

He would show them.

* * *

"Wow! Daddy is cool!"

The emotions coming from the ice blue eyed child were a sight for tired eyes and always managed to bring a smile to her mother. Now, if her husband would stop to frighten her every time he did a dive with his broom and their firstborn son Charlus on his shoulders it would have been better.

The view from the parlor of their manor on the Greengrass gardens was breathtaking, especially with the sun closing on the horizon, going towards the sunset. There was a multitude of clouds that evening, and maybe the show would have been a wonder.

"Yes, your daddy is very cool!"

"But mummy! When are you coming in the story? I want to see you in the story!"

She was pouting, and it was truly adorable. Daphne felt so many emotions in her and for every day she thanked _her Harry_ to have managed to accept her for what she was as a whole.

"I am coming right up sweetie. Do you want to hear about it now or tomorrow? It is getting late."

"NO! I want to see you and daddy in the story now!"

And, as usual, the mother pleased her only daughter. It was incredible how much she had her wrapped around her finger from the instant she was born in this world.

"Well, then listen again little Lily." She kissed her on her chubby cheek. "Your mummy is coming into the story."

* * *

After healing his cuts and wounds, bar his hand, where he only managed to stop the flow of the blood, Harry continued to run in the corridors of the School and he knew he had to reach his room in Gryffindor Tower before anyone else. They surely would prepare some traps or jinxes to ambush him and maybe destroy some of his properties.

That would have been unacceptable. Especially for his photo album, all his memories of his parents.

They had already destroyed his wand and he was sad about that. It was a connection to the Magical World, where his family had been. But, luckily, it was not a problem since he had another one available, way more powerful and suitable for him.

But his photo album, his meager possessions in his trunk and his precious broom had to disappear together with him. The Invisibility Cloak paired with the Marauder's Map too, they were a must to have for what he planned in his mind.

Hedwig should have been safe in the Owlery, but if the new place had an external access suitable for her, he would bring his very first and only friend with him.

He had the perfect location in mind. And he was sure that no-one would have been able to find him there. But, not seen, three people were following the Boy-Who-Lived from the distance, having come out from the Great Hall in the general chaos that followed his exit from the stage.

He finally reached the top of the Moving Staircases, and managed to enter the Common Room even if, technically, he was not a Gryffindor anymore. Moving swiftly, and fast, he collected everything he needed and packed all into his trunk, moving away from the place, going towards the second floor.

If his thoughts about the situation were correct, he should not have found anyone along the way.

Obviously, he wasn't correct at all.

Just before opening the entrance in Myrtle's bathroom, after having said hello to the ever-present ghost who blushed and floated into her toilet, he felt the distinct sensation caused by a spell being enchanted behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck had gone immediately from relaxed to spike straight. They always reacted in that strange way in those situations, after confronting Voldemort at the end of his First Year.

While instantly dropping to the ground to avoid the possible curse he swept again his hand quieting everyone in the room.

When he managed to have a first look at his attackers, he saw the eyes of a very enraged, very icy, and very beautiful Daphne Greengrass.

They were something like _friends_ , if you can think about Harry Potter being friends with a Snake, and more, with the _Ice Queen of Slytherin_.

Harry did not have the time to think about anything else because the companion of said girl tried to mouth another spell with her wand fully visible, and his reflexes engaged again, momentarily forgetting that she could not speak any enchantment. He had met and talked to her maybe just only three times in the past, but she was a cute one.

However, after what he experienced, he surely would have not caved in without a fight.

The final girl was a little beauty which had almost the same traits of the blonde one, probably her little sister. It was his first meeting with her. She had stayed back, looking a little bit fearful.

He managed to regain his bearings after defending himself and back stepping further into the bathroom. He was _almost_ sure that they were not there to capture him.

"Hey hey, just stop ok?!"

The answer of the young women in front of him was not the positive one, so he was forced to _freeze_ them on their spots with a Sticking Charm. They were surprised at first, and then relented after a couple of seconds, relaxing their shoulders. He took that as a good sign.

"All right! Timeout girls!" Harry was becoming angry again, and what he said in the Hall about not following him was still in action. Even for them.

He stood up slowly, and released them, keeping his good hand ready to cast again if needed.

"Harry."

"Hello, Daphne."

"You are not stupid as you seemed to be until this evening then. And I'm glad to see that you are always a fast reacting one in a bad situation."

She always used to say that he was an idiot, and that he acted like a Gryffindor, so this time he was not sure if she was complimenting or still insulting him. He went with the first, just to see where all this was going.

"Err…"

Daphne smirked. "But your skills in talking with someone else have still not improved at all. " That caused a giggle to come out from the smaller one together with a snort from the brunette.

"All right. Let's start again then. It's nice to meet you once more Daphne, Tracey. And I'm pleased to meet you for the first time, little one." Astoria scowled, she always hated to be called like that, especially by her older sister. "This is maybe the worst moment to do our presentations. I'm not quite in my right state of mind now."

The blonde snorted and answered him swiftly. "You don't say, Harry. After what happened…" She paused for a moment. Was that a hint of a blush on her pale cheeks?

The brunette came forward. "It's nice to meet you again Harry! We definitely missed you!"

He smiled at her. Even with not knowing her well, he always liked her personality. It reminded him of one of the children who did not bully him in his first school years, with a solar mood always around her.

"And I am Astoria, Astoria Greengrass, Harry!" He was surprised by her sudden hug, which instigated a little chuckle to escape from the others.

"Can I assume that this is the annoying little devil you talked me about, Daphne?"

Astoria was instantly murderous at her sister, but the older one didn't give her a chance to reply. "Tori, let's do this later, ok?" She was trying to detach her 12 year old sibling from the black-haired boy.

"Just because you want to do it yourself does not mean that I cannot do it too!"

Now Harry could clearly see a widespread blush on her face, which made her skin glow and her eyes to shine brilliantly. Why did he never notice that before?

Her friend, Tracey, was barely restraining her laughter, looking at them both.

"All right… I think there is a story here, but this is not the place to tell it. Just answer this…"

He paused fixing them with a cold stare.

"What the hell did you had in mind when you wanted to attack me? I could have hurt you!"

Daphne snickered, unrepentant of her previous actions. "Do you really have to ask?"

Harry did not have to reply, his eyes did for him. Confusion etched in both, and it was almost funny to watch.

The three girls in the bathroom above the Chamber of Secrets recognized an impasse when they saw it, so they exploded in quiet laughter again, while Harry was more and more jumbled from the situation.

After a while, the look on the blonde face turned dark. "You tried to kill us with your stunt in the Hall, you idiot!"

"Oh! That..." He had at least the decency to look abashed, and blushed in his shame. They were right, he deserved that. "Yes. _That!_ We understand you did not have any other choice… but you earnt it, and maybe more!"

"Thank us that we didn't use worse means." The brunette said, smirking devilishly to him.

Daphne regarded him again and, fighting down the now permanent blush due to the fact that he was still half naked in front of her, concluded. "But, as usual, we were no match." She huffed annoyed.

"All right, I concede your point, you're correct. Please, however, don't try it again." They nodded and he relaxed a bit. "Now it's better that I disappear."

The three looked at him intensely.

"Girls, all the School is out for my blood. Those fucking sheep will be all over the place, and while I can take on them, I cannot do it with two missing fingers and my other wand. And I cannot do it after all the magical stress I went on this evening."

He sighed and took his trunk again.

"I have to rest, maybe we can meet again another day?"

"You are out of your mind Potter, we are coming with you." Daphne answered promptly.

"Sorry… What?!"

"Wherever you are going, we are coming with you. Do you think that… trust me, Potter, it will be better if we come right now."

He snorted. "Daphne, while I would like that, associating with me is _not_ the right thing to do as things are. "

"I don't want to put you, Tracey and especially your sister in danger. And I don't want your House to use you to force me to get out. Or worse."

"Potter!" Daphne always reverted to use his surname when she was annoyed with him

Tracey added immediately, calming her blonde friend with a hand on her arm. "Daph, he is right, and we cannot trust the people in the Pit. Hell, I would think the same and worse maybe."

Astoria butted her way into the conversation, releasing her final absolute weapon.

The puppy-eyed look.

"Ehm… can someone stop her? It's really, well, I don't know how to put it without offending anyone here."

"Sorry Harry, when Tori goes into that mood the only thing you can do is whatever she wants!" Tracey seemed accustomed to it, but immediately all the bantering went silent when Harry heard some shouting from the floor above, and a rush of feet on the stairs near the bathroom.

"Shit! I knew they would have been fast, but not this fast!"

Thinking fast, he maybe chose, like Daphne, _the best thing in his entire life._

"All right! It seems that the others have made the decision for us." He imploringly looked at them in the eyes. _"Please know what are you going into if you follow me. "_

That sent a cold shiver along the spine of the three teenagers, but they nodded nonetheless. They wanted to be there for him. "Come with me and I will tell you I am already sorry for the filth and grime down there. I did not really have had the time to make it presentable during last year."

He hissed _"$Open$"_ and " _$Ssstepsss$"_ to the sink in front of them, and his companions watched with awe the old bathroom basin open under his commands.

"I don't believe it. Is it really true Harry?"

"And why didn't you show this to us before?!"

He rewarded them with his trademark grin. "Girls, follow me!"

Harry surely didn't have to repeat it a second time, and all the girls, Daphne first, then Astoria, and finally Tracey went after him into the bowels of the School.

Just after entering the sink closed again, and the parseltongue wards that Harry had reactivated went into full functionality, canceling their magical signature from everyone. It had been a close call, because after spare ten seconds, some of the Hufflepuff seventh years passed in front of the unused bathroom, still looking for a Potter to murder.

After a long descent, like ten or more flight of stairs of a normal building maybe, they reached the end of the steps, and a long not well torch-lit corridor opened in front of them.

"Lumos!"

A bright ball of light appeared on the palm of Harry's good hand, moving and hovering in front of him after a couple of seconds. Every girl was staring at it with awe in their eyes.

"Harry, how are you capable of doing that without a wand?" Tracey was totally excited about it; she was always hungry to learn something new.

Daphne added. "That would be something I would like to know too."

"I could teach you. It is frustrating in the beginning, but rewarding." They piped up at his answer.

Astoria was a little frightened of the dark place and kept going attached to Harry's tattered pants. He looked down and put a hand on her head to reassure the little girl.

"Don't worry Astoria, can I call you Astoria?" At her nod, he continued. "Under here, there is no one except us, and no one knows about it. There are also no dangers at all." She smiled at him, and the other two girls had also little smiles on their faces, looking at the boy.

It was almost incredible that the same Harry Potter who was shouting and almost killing everyone mere minutes before now was being so sweet to the little girl.

' _There is always something new to discover with you, eh?'_

They almost reached the entrance when Daphne spotted the old skin in the corridor. "Merlin Harry, are you telling me that the Basilisk was that big?"

Tracey whitened on the spot at the thought and Astoria went even closer to Harry. "You told us that it was a _big snake_ , but this…"

His expression was sad. "I would like to tell you that Daphne. I so would like to."

"What did you mean with that, Harry?" They were still going on in the tunnel maze, but they had almost reached the main entrance of the Chamber.

"You are about to see something, girls. Something that no-one except me has ever seen before."

They were enraptured by the mystery, and it was clearly visible.

"Also, even if I killed it, it can be still frightening, so it is better to be prepared!"

Tracey quivered. "Harry, you are scaring us right now."

"I'm sorry girls. I know that you are strong but trust me with this."

He smiled again at them, causing another little blush to appear on Daphne's cheeks.

He always wondered, who was the idiot who named her an _Ice Queen_?

Once in front of the big door, all his companions gave out an exclamation of wonder "So it really exists…" while Harry was giving the gate the command to open in the language of the Snakes.

Immediately, after going in, other torches lit up with magical flames, among the snake heads, and the Chamber of Secrets was revealed to three new people. They continued to advance and jumped a little when the door behind them closed with a tight gong. Harry stopped again before the bigger room ahead of the group and asked again if they were ready.

"Daphne, Astoria, Tracey. Remember, that thing is dead, totally, since more than one year ago. Stay next to me and do not, absolutely, go near its mouth and teeth, ok?" His tone was a no-nonsense one, and the three nodded their confirmation.

As soon as they saw the mythical beast for the first time, in all its width and length, and especially the big and razor sharp looking teeth the could not restrain the tight scream from their mouths.

Astoria buried her head towards Harry, not wanting to look at it again, while Daphne and Tracey were trembling with fear and looking from the boy on their arms to the beast and again to the boy.

It was incredible. At least eighty feet in length, black as the night with a green undertone on its scales, mouth still half open with all the teeth in a gruesome display, and a dried black thing oozing from a cut on the side of its face. A true monster.

The Basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets.

The girls' legs were about to collapse, and only the remaining strength of Harry kept them on their feet.

"Har… Harry. Did you tell us that you killed it at the end of our Second Year, when you were tw… twelve?"

Harry was actually embarrassed to answer, even after all that time, but he did it the same. "Yes Daphne, with a sword and the help of Fawkes and the Hat, since I did not have my wand."

"Dear Merlin and Morgana. You are even more awesome than the rumors!"

Harry blushed heavily after hearing Tracey say that. He was not accustomed at all to receiving praise.

"Maybe it will be better to move into the main room ok? It seems that we all could use a sitting comfy place." At his statement, they all nodded since they were all about to fall down.

The Boy-Who-Lived crossed swiftly the space between the opposite walls of the Chamber and opened a hidden door behind what had to be some kind of statue. It got destroyed during his fight, after the Basilisk had been blinded.

The room was small but cozy, candles all around to lit it, with a fireplace which he didn't know if it was connected to the Floo System, a small library, a couple of tables and two cushioned chairs. He transformed them into a big couch for everyone.

Reaching the now big sofa, he sat down after the other two girls and Daphne pulled Astoria on hes lap. She was clearly still distraught by what she had seen just moments before, and her sister was stroking her hair and murmuring that the dead monster was in the other room and that they were completely safe.

"So…"

"So nothing Harry! How in Morgana's Magic did you manage to kill that beast?"

Harry launched in his tale, he never managed to tell them what really happened between him and the basilisk since when Second Year finished, they could not find the time to meet again while not raising suspicious concerns by Malfoy and his cronies. And during their Third Year, with all the Sirius Black and Dementors debacle, it simply skipped out of his mind.

He told them about the Lockhart stupid obliviation attempt -and so the real personality of the fraud Professor, the cave in just after that, and the confrontation with the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle. Then, his incredible luck without Fawkes, running around without being capable of opening his eyes in fear, and the following fight with the blinded snake.

Finally, the fact that the basilisk bit him while he killed it with Gryffindor's Sword, and what he remembered after. He skipped on Ginny's involvement because it was not his place to tell her story to other people.

"Wait wait wait! A minute here! Did you say that he bit you?"

"Yes, right here on my arm." And he showed them the round and whiteish scar on his forearm.

Daphne was out of her league. "But you should be dead! The bite from a Basilisk is highly toxic!"

"It's true, and if Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, used his tears a mere half a minute later, I would have."

That was too much for the three girls, and it had the effect of three pairs of arms going around him, while they were softly crying for all the emotions involved, and saying something like 'bloody stupid honorable Gryffindors' or similar.

After regaining a bit of control, Tracey was curious about the memory. "Who was that Tom something? I never heard anything about him."

"Actually, if you ever got a detention with Filch…" He received three negative amused answers and he snorted about that. "Well, if you received that, and he made you clean a certain trophy room, you could see his name on some Student Award some decades ago."

He used his finger to draw on the nearby table his name.

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

"However, you all already know him."

That drew curious stares, and he promptly added. "Only with another name." And the letters rearranged themselves. Daphne was the first one to realize who that memory really was.

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"Oh Mighty Magic! You had another confrontation with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? And you survived?"

It was incredible at the simple thought. That man was the most powerful Dark Lord in recent history since Grindelwald and Harry simply had battled against him emerging victorious?

"Yes Daphne, it was my third time actually. That stupid thing never managed to kill me, when I was a baby as you all know: when he was Quirrelmort in our First Year, like I already told you, and again appearing as a memory two years ago."

The way Harry talked about Voldemort was astounding. He was treating him like a simple moron or something like that. A common street thug. Daphne, Tracey and Astoria were in complete awe.

They never trusted or believed all the stories in the books they read when they were little. They were too absurd, like the one who told the tale with an eight-year-old Harry Potter battling against a werewolf.

But now they had the real deal in front of them, with a dead enormous Basilisk next room as a true proof of what he had done.

Daphne could not resist anymore. This was her dream since she saw Harry shunned by everyone for the Heir of Slytherin story two years before. And this was also the reason which moved her to meet him for the first time in the same year.

She simply got up, crooked down in front of him, put her hands on both of his cheeks, and kissed him with all the might she could muster.

Harry was stunned, at first, embarrassed, at second, but after a couple of seconds he began to enjoy the feeling and gave into it, putting more pressure against her lips and showing that he was participating in the kiss.

It was the first time that he had been kissed, and by such a beauty as Daphne Greengrass.

The kiss launched fireworks in both of their minds, and they managed to end it only because they lacked air in their lungs. At that time both their faces were blushing like a nuclear reactor, you could feel the heat coming from their cheeks, and the heavy beating of the hearts inside their ribcage.

"What… what…"

Harry did not know what to say, so he kept stumbling on his words while his brain tried to process the sensory overload on his mouth.

The sniggering and the blown-out laughter from the other two girls in the room was more than enough to skip them out their personal moment, and as impossible it may seem, to make them blush even worse than before.

Tracey was the first one to regain the ability to speak after all the laughing. "Harry, I have to tell you a secret, and I'm sorry that no one of us told you this before."

While still blushing, Daphne regarded her with a sour look which promised pain.

Tracey continued without problems though. "What you have to know is that Daphne here…"

The blond-haired girl clamped her hand over the mouth of her friend, still looking murderous. "Tracey…"

"What! If you don't have the courage to tell him after two years, Daphne, I will! He deserves to know!"

Harry was confused. "Sorry girls, to know what?"

The Ice Queen was embarrassed, with chaotic and conflicting thoughts in her mind, she wanted to tell him but a part of her was afraid of rejection. She was at loss at what to do… so she just nodded to Tracey. Her friend would help her, she just knew.

Her longtime friend smiled. "Well, Harry, as I was saying… she is totally smitten with you!"

His eyes bulged out of their sockets. He could not believe it, and his face had to be an amusing one, because Astoria was giggling at him.

"You know, when we noticed you during the first year you were this little cute scrawny boy, which was almost afraid of his own shadow…"

"Hey! I was not!"

"Yes." She answered him in a condescending tone. "Now, let me continue. You were cute, but not the Harry Potter everyone imagined."

"Well I don't know who imagined what about me, but everything you have believed before our meetings was a complete fake. I already told you! And I hate my fame for that!"

Daphne continued. "We knew that, and to reassure you again, no one here is a fan of the Boy-Who-Lived thing…"

A cough both from Tracey and Astoria, which strangely resembled the word 'lies' made him raise his eyebrow to the two.

Daphne was sending daggers from her eyes at the two, but even so, they started talking.

"Well… if we have to confess everything, Harry…"

"Yes?"

"I never told you, but I had your figurine bought for me when I was six!" Tracey blurted out with red cheeks. Astoria was immediately after the brunette putting out her hand, like in a class. "My parents gifted me all your books for Christmas when I was four!"

Harry turned towards Daphne, who seemed immensely embarrassed.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Daphne wanted to go away and never look back but she steeled herself and said with a whisper. "I have a bed cover with Harry Potter written on it, and I bought your First Year original Quidditch robe with your name." She was totally mortified.

Harry groaned. "Great, more and more fans…"

"Don't even start!" The coordinated triple shout for each girl surprised him, and Tracey took the reins of the situation. "We were children, and you were almost everywhere…" He groaned again.

"Shut up!" She said smiling. "When we grew up we started to understand, unlike Weasley, that those stories were absurd. Even our parents shared our thoughts on the matter, and we wanted to see how much that was real, and how much that was a fake."

Daphne began again. "And this evening… this evening you have been awesome Harry!" She was completely excited and her eyes sparkled like two blue gems in the night. "You managed to stand your ground, to not cave in like you usually did in the past."

"You even told McGonagall and Snape to _shut up_! I so wanted to kiss you there! And then when you showed you hand to the stupid Gryffs, that was amazing, and Johnson will regret hexing you first!"

"Ah, so it was _Johnson_. Maybe because she was one of the seventh years in my old House to put her name in the Goblet?"

"Yes, and then the golden shield, and what you said after!"

Astoria added excitedly. "And don't forget what you did with the Goblet, it was awesome!"

"I really hope that right now you are not thinking that I am even more like what you have read in those stories…"

Daphne smiled, a sweet smile on her lips, and shook her head. "No Harry, this evening you showed everyone, even the blind ones, that you are a person with your own strength and morals, and who will not be pushed around anymore. I am so proud of you, you know."

It was the first time in all his life that someone said that to him. It filled him with an unknown feeling, an extremely good one, and he feared that something would burst from the inside.

"Shit Harry, now that I remember, that bitch cut your fingers, we have to do something!"

Harry smiled at Tracey. "Don't worry girls, another couple of minutes and I will be all right."

"What?!" Was the collective scream from everyone else around him.

"Well… do you remember when I said to Dumbledore that I was the _monster_ that he helped to create?"

"Yes. You were referring to your scars. If I can get my hand on those muggles…" Daphne was seething with rage at the thought, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"To tell you the truth… not really."

"What are you meaning…" Tracey was silenced when he brought up his mauled hand. His ring and last finger were missing and it was a gruesome display.

But what they saw after would remain etched in their memory forever and ever.

"Merlin… I… I don't know what to say."

"Tell the truth, Daphne. I have accepted it long ago."

He sighed sadly. _"I am a monster."_

"NO!"

Her outburst shocked him. "You are not a monster Harry! No no no! You are the Harry that I always dreamt on, that I longed for, and I do not care about this or other things."

"You are Harry! Simply Harry!"

Those words were the ones that Harry wanted to hear since he was thrown inside the Wizarding World. Since he was damned with the Boy-Who-Lived legend.

To be only a normal boy. Only Harry.

Everything crashed on the spot. He cried, loudly, suddenly, releasing all the pent emotions that he had inside him, stored for years and years. He cried for his lost parents, who gave their life for him, he cried for his lost and traitorous friends, he cried for all the expectations put on him by everyone, and he cried for the affection this new girl who was squeezing him like he was about to disappear showed him.

It was the release he needed to continue his new path.

* * *

Little Lily was crying for her father. This part of the story was always the most painful and at the same time the most beautiful for her to hear.

It showed that her treasured daddy loved her mummy, and loved her and her brother.

Daphne was trying to comfort her, emotions rolling off her like waves. She could never forget that day, ever. It was always at the forefront of her memories, as one of best memories in her life.

They were comforting each other when Harry came in the room, with a sleeping boy on his hip.

"Daphne, love, is everything ok?"

Daphne looked up towards him and smiled through her tears. "I was telling her our story, Harry. We were in the Chamber."

Harry smiled as the memory came out again. "It was a good day that one."

"It was a perfect day Harry."

He could not say anything against that. It was a perfect day indeed.

Harry embraced his family. How he got this lucky, he didn't know. But he would be damned before something happened to those people who were the very life for him.

"Everything is fine, Harry."

* * *

 **END OF CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

 **Chapter Released on 15/05/17 - Edited on 20/05/17.** A lot of the reviews and PM's pointed the fact that the first meeting between Harry and the girls was strange, confusing, or with things happening too fast. I completely modified it and changed their background (which will be further explored in future chapters). It should make more sense now and give out a better feeling. I also added more details to the scene in the Great Hall, along with correcting some minor grammar mistakes.

This concludes the first chapter of this fanfiction, 13k words excluding the two AN at the beginning and the end of it.

The story will cover all the Goblet of Fire book (and movie), mixing elements from both. I hope that the next parts will be as long as this one, and that I will be able to mantain a good update schedule. I'm still in college, so do not expect regular updates unfortunately.

I hope that you liked it! Don't forget to leave a Review!

See ya at the next one! Ciao!


	2. A Kidnapped Owl

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the second chapter of my first story for the Harry Potter section!

Thank you, everyone, for all the support, the favs, follows and obviously, the reviews! They have been totally helpful, and I hope that I managed to answer every one of you and to not forget anyone. If so, I'm sorry, but know that your time in writing one for my story is super-appreciated!

Since I am half Italian half American, firstly I hope my English will be good enough for you international readers. Secondly, I do not know a lot of British English expressions, so please bear with me for that. Rating is M for some swearing and future possible intense scenes. In this AU some characters will be OOC, and there will be bashing around. The pairing is Harry/Daphne, my absolute favorite, with a Powerful!Independent!Harry on the stage. Get ready for another _"above orbit over the top"_ Harry Potter!

Please Read&Review!

I would like to dedicate this fic to the awesome writer _Dorothea Greengrass_. Her Harry/Daphne stories are simply great, so go and read them!

DISCLAIMER: I obviously, and unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter and everything associated with it. JKR does, and she did a fantastic job in creating our favorite Magical World. I only own the idea of this fanfiction.

"normal speech" - _'thoughts'_ \- _"$parseltongue$"_

* * *

 **Blood, Fire, Venom and Tears**

by **Stormchaser17**

* * *

 **2.** **A Kidnapped Owl**

"Accio Firebolt!"

Harry waited patiently behind a rock, hoping that his summoning charm would work well and, more importantly, fast. The monster was stalking him with its eyes and its enhanced sense of smell, so he was sure that it _knew_ where he was.

It was simply playing with him.

All of a sudden, he heard the usual sound of his beloved broom rushing through the air towards his location. He had to calculate everything because he would have had only a single chance to be successful.

He continued to wait, and at the right moment, he jumped out his hiding place and rushed to the broom. Getting on it, he had only an instant to register that the wide-open mouth of the beast was in front of him and that he was flying straight towards it.

He was _too slow_ …

Harry Potter awoke with a startled gasp, his heart going ten miles per minute and for a moment he really thought that his blood pumping organ would jump out of his chest. His sweat was cold, and he began to shiver while trying to regain his full consciousness.

Well, _that_ was a _freaking nightmare_!

After minutes, his hands were still trembling, and he was almost overwhelmed by the sheer emotions that he was feeling, nervous tears ready to fall from the corner of his eyes. He _so_ needed a Calming Draught right now but unfortunately, there was none in the Chamber of Secrets.

He began to take big and full breaths of air, and he tried to think about anything unrelated with that horrific vision. His first impression of Hogwarts Castle from the Black Lake, almost suspended between the earth and the sky, with a myriad of lights lighting its windows from the inside, and its towers and turrets shooting towards the stars above him always worked in calming the young boy.

It took a while, but imagining himself eleven years old again, in the little boat crossing the water towards the new school, helped to regain control of his quivering limbs.

He was having these dreams, nightmares, more and more frequently, with the approaching of the date of the First Task. Some kind of generic monster always waiting for him, and which, in the end, always managed to kill him. His nerves were a little bit frayed, but instead of moping in his bed, he decided to get up and begin the day, even if his old watch showed an unholy hour, three and twenty-five in the morning.

The sun was still under the horizon, it was cold, and the only sounds that he could hear were the ones made by the giant squid in the middle of the lake. He envied it, giving out a long sigh. At least someone could still have the time to play like it was doing right now.

Harry had disappeared from the public life of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since the awful confrontation in the Great Hall during the dinner of All Hallows Eve because he decided that having to watch your back constantly, every second, was too big of an issue to work with.

He would go outside at night, when only the ghosts, Filch and his cat companion Mrs. Norris were around, and he was always able to evade them with the help of his Marauder's tools. Luckily the meals were brought to him by his Slytherin friends who would simply leave a big disillusioned food filled tray every day after lunch in Myrtle's bathroom. He had to ask _how_ they were managing to do it without being discovered.

Even for that, he, unfortunately, had become a little bit paranoid and he amusedly decided to blame Moody for that. For the first days, he wasn't sure if he could eat everything without worrying for poisoning, or for some time delayed potion acting on him and killing him slowly. He did have confidence in them, but if someone else got to the food before the girls, it could have been a problem. He didn't trust anyone, except them and his faithful Hedwig.

However, he could not simply go to the Great Hall or the kitchens under his Cloak, it was too risky. If he was caught, there was a very high possibility of not coming out with all his limbs attached to the body. Or, worse, coming out alive.

In the end, hunger and thirst won. He was between a rock and a hard place, so he started slowly. First, just by drinking small amounts of pumpkin juice and waiting for hours for something to ensue. His stomach would angrily complain, but he was not listening to it.

When nothing happened, he emptied all the glass in a single go, and waited.

Nothing occurred again, and maybe it was a good sign. But he could not lower his guard.

He went over the food, and he so blamed himself to not have studied more! There have had to be some kind of detection spell for poisons or similar things in the food and beverages. Why did he have to go and waste time with _Weasley,_ instead of preparing himself better?

He had been stupid. Truly stupid.

 _No more of that!_ He would do his very best, for himself, and for his parents' memory. He hoped sincerely that they were not disappointed in him. But even if that was the case, _he would regain their approval, even fighting with his nails and teeth_!

At the third serving, on the third day, he began to relax a bit, and enjoy his meals more. He had managed to exchange some quick words with the girls, and they assured him that the food was always picked from their plates, and never left their sight. Also, since the matter was strictly related to the silver and green dressed friends, his thoughts often went onto the beautiful and mysterious Daphne Greengrass.

 _That_ had been a total surprise, who in the name of Magic would have imagined that the very _Ice Queen_ was romantically interested in him?!

Two weeks after their first meeting, he was still thinking about it.

* * *

"Daddy! You didn't love mummy?"

Every time that Harry or Daphne reached this point in the story little Lily would always ask this question. It was difficult to explain to her that the situation between her father and her mother wasn't the best for them, in the beginning.

But _how could he_ destroy the dreams of such a beauty?

Harry answered, while continuing to feed her little scoops of chocolate ice cream. In the meantime, Daphne was relaxing on the main balcony, in a _very_ revealing sunbathing suit, that left so few things to the imagination of a hot human male.

 _'_ _Not that he had to imagine anything, in the end.'_ He thought with a lecherous smirk.

Charlus James Potter, his firstborn, was instead napping on the chair just under the shade, having exhausted himself in running around the house during the morning.

"No, flower. Daddy loves mummy so much that he cannot imagine a day without her." And, after a pause. "Or a day without you, or your brother."

Daphne smiled widely at her surfacing emotions, _he_ was always able to further improve her mood, even if she was already happy, like that day.

"You are all my gems, my family, and my life." He embraced his daughter and squeezed her so tight to reassure the young child, while his wife rewarded him with a dazzling expression.

Truly, if he got to the person who dubbed her a person of ice, he would have words with him, or her.

"But, Lily, you have to understand this, even if it's difficult." Her daughter gave him her complete attention, face scrunched in an adorable sight of concentration.

"Love… love is beautiful, but it can be hard at times. In the beginning, especially." He smiled at her. "You have to work for it, every moment of your life."

Lily Dorea Potter tried to comprehend what his father wanted to say, but for her, it was so much simpler than that. You loved a person or not. She loved her mummy, and her daddy, and even Charlus when he annoyed her. She didn't love going to sleep early or eating funny smelling vegetables. It was easy.

Harry could almost see her thoughts, and smiled again. Was he so innocent when he was her age? It was difficult to remember, among the pain and the abuse.

Since he decided to marry Daphne years before, he swore on all the Magic of the world that his sons and daughters would never ever experience a childhood like his. He would bring down everything to avoid that. _Everything._

"Don't worry Lily, you will understand better with time."

The little girl seemed to accept the answer, eager again to hear the continuation of the story.

"What happened after, daddy? What?!"

* * *

Harry thought about her confession. It was the first time that they had ever interacted with each other in that way and with all the ordeal of the day, he didn't really know what to do.

At the same time, the blue-eyed Slytherin was doing an equivalent thinking. Had she and Tracey been too hasty? Maybe there was not enough solid ground to build something?

They had tried to jump and go directly to the next stage, had everything been ruined? You could not rush something like that, especially with Harry's negative experiences in the human relationships field.

They still had those _scars_ and that _cross_ vividly in front of their eyes, and it had been scary that someone with that past came out like Harry.

You didn't hear about that kind of abuse in the Magical World since it was a thing of the past. Well, almost. Right now, the abuse, more psychological than physical, was concentrated on the eventual squibs of a family. Since they did not have magic, then they were _nothing_ , and so immediately cast out and abandoned.

It was not fair, obviously, but the old families were the ones with the power. You _could not_ change that.

Harry… Harry instead. He was _different_.

He was abused since his first childhood years, he was probably isolated from everyone and everything around him, since the _muggles_ were so afraid of his magic powers. The three girls tried to imagine themselves in the same situation, without all the comfort of their homes, their parents with them, the gift at Christmas and at their Birthdays, the fun with friends, the joy of staying all together, always starved, beaten, condemned…

Merlin…

He was right, he was a _monster_ , but in the good sense of the term.

Every one of them would have been broken, crazy, or at least so dark that the good magic would have run far away from them with the speed of a spell. They could not understand how a person, grown up like him, came out like him.

Harry seemed so unconfident in himself, but inside, deep inside, he was maybe one of the best in all the Magical World. He just… he just needed to be _pushed a little_. And what happened that very evening, finally, managed to do it.

The blonde-haired witch ended her reasoning. She always dreamt of him, but this was not going in the way she had planned. In hindsight, she should have considered that it would have been better to wait a little more, to establish a connection later in the year, away from that emotional rollercoaster.

Maybe waiting after the First Task would have the wisest choice. Maybe even ask him for the Ball, or hinting that she was interested in going with him.

No, that would not have worked at all, she needed to be direct with him since his experience was near zero.

Or maybe, she had to approach him more during the past years, and have already something to work with.

When she saw him come out from his thoughts she noticed his expression and gave out a sob. _'Here comes the rejection. I should have known that this was impossible…'_

Harry looked at her blue-eyed friend. "I have a question for you, Daphne."

He spoke again, slowly, hoping to not create a mess with the situation on his hands. "You are a very beautiful witch, and I would be honored to have you as a girlfriend, but… why me? I mean, we have known each other since Second Year but…"

Daphne, interrupting him, managed to croak out. "What… what do you mean with why me?"

The other two witches were sending him heavy glares which promised deadly retribution, worse than a basilisk, if he only tried to break the heart of their friend and sister.

"Well, for starters, why do you like me. Why would you risk everything in your House to be with me, what can I give to you to make this… our relationship work, why did you not tell me about this in our meetings last year… I have an infinite number of questions right now."

He regarded them all. "Add this to the fact that, well, how to say it… it's the first time that something like this it's happening to me, and I am… I am not the best social person here so…" The snort the girls gave out managed to release a bit of the accumulated tension.

Daphne, while still a little bit sad, was also elated because, in the end, it was only insecurity on his part. It was a problem which she could solve with time, constant company and reassurance.

"Would it be ok for you to… to start from what we are now, friends, and work from this point on? And maybe, after knowing each other more, we could become something else."

He raised his eyes from the floor to her nervous irises, and tensely asked. "What… what do you think about it?" He was blushing all over his face. "I would like to know you better, and spend more time with you, maybe during some Hogsmeade weekend or just talking together alone. Would it be possible?"

Daphne did not really need to think about what he had said, especially the part when he wanted to _be alone with her!_ She beamed instantly, with a kilowatt smile on her face. "All right Harry, I can do that! I want to spend some more alone time with you too!"

She had a possibility to make this work with _her_ Harry! And damn her if she would have wasted it!

Meanwhile, the Boy-Who-Lived gave a sigh of relief. Somehow, he managed to not botch it. It was a conquest in a day where everything seemed to go wrong for him.

"Hey, Harry, are you sure you are not a Ravenclaw? That speech seemed to come out from their mouths."

Harry laughed nervously at Tracey, followed by Astoria. He felt the tension fade away little by little.

"I don't know. The Hat stated Slytherin first, never named the Ravens."

"And I think that now Malfoy will call his _oh so great daddy_ to kick out the Hat from the School, or burn him, for having said something like that! I cannot still believe it!" The little girl said, rolling her eyes.

"Only two months here and you are already tired of his daddy-complex? Good work, Astoria!" She smirked at him. "He would try for sure, but I think that the Hat is connected to Hogwarts, and it would be a tad impossible to do something about the problem."

He, still a bit nervous, got up from the sofa. "I'm relieved then, I do not have to obliviate you all." He added with total nonchalance.

"What?!"

He looked at them with a grin, after transfiguring one of the books in the library in a large robe to cover himself. It was a little bit colder in there now, since the night was advancing and the room, together with the Chamber, was partially under the lake. "I was joking girls…" They released their breath. "…or maybe not."

Seeing the expression on his face Tracey started laughing loudly. "Daphne! He is perfect for you!"

The blonde Slytherin blushed again. "He has your same sense of strange dark humor!"

"Shut up Tracey!" And she began to hurl the pillow behind her back at her again and again.

"But now, girls, I'm about to crash on this floor and fall sleep, because I am really busted. Can we maybe meet again?"

"Yes Harry, it is getting late. We just wanted to be sure that you were ok."

Harry smiled at his blonde friend. "I will be in time. Thank you, Daphne, Tracey, Astoria. You have been the only ones to support me, and I really appreciate this. I will not forget."

"Don't worry about that. Now we have to go back to our dorms after our _unsuccessful pursuit of your person_."

"You tried your best. Maybe _you will have more luck next time._ " He snickered about that.

Daphne got up, and timidly approached him, stopping at an arm's length from the boy. "Harry, what will you do about this Tournament? Even after everything you have said, you have to compete."

"For now, I have to regain a better control in my Magic, due to the surplus given to me _willingly_ by the Goblet. And, after that, I must discover what the First Task will be. I need more information, so I think that the library at night will be my new friend. I have only three weeks after all."

"Good. Good." She sighed loudly.

"So you have a plan."

"Well, maybe a part of a plan, but I have a direction to follow."

"Harry… please. Stay safe." She kissed him again, on his cheek. This time was not rough and not demanding, just pleasurable, and full of affection. "If we should hear or find something, we will tell you."

"I will be, Daphne. And again, thank you, you don't know how much I needed your company." He was still new at this display of affections thing, but he decided to mirror her, giving a kiss on the icy blue-eyed girl's cheek. Her joyous and happy expression was all he needed to see to know he did the correct move.

Tracey added, whispering. "Thank you, Harry, for not breaking Daphne's heart. She wants to appear strong, but, inside…" Astoria nodded along.

"If I can ask you this, Tracey, Astoria, please trust me. I will never, _ever_ , do something to hurt her." The brunette smiled, and embraced him strongly, silently thanking again her secret two years old friend. He escorted them to the stairs and, after bidding goodbye with a new round of quick hugs, retiring in the Chamber.

After retrieving his trunk and bringing it into the room, he just slept for almost a day and a half straight, since he was totally hammered, both physically and emotionally. His name coming out from the Goblet, the new shunning, the _betrayal_ of all his House, the magic… it was too much for a fourteen-year-old boy.

 _Who or what the hell did he annoy in a previous life to have all this thrown on him?_ That was his last coherent thought before crashing on the new transfigured bed (from the sofa).

His days became routine. Waking up in the morning, training, eating, sleeping in the afternoons, eating again, then getting out during the night and going into the Forbidden Section of the Library, or perusing the bookshelves trying to find _whatever_ he would need for overcoming this new obstacle in his life.

Since he didn't know what the First Task would include, he decided not to focus on a particular branch of magic, like only exercising in Transfiguration or only DADA. He needed all the possible information on everything, to have a chance.

He also noticed that, without being stupidly distracted by _Weasley_ and his chess games, and forcibly pushed by _Granger_ to continuously study more and more, he _could_ manage to learn the magical theory in his courses, he just needed to do it without interruptions and in his own time. Another good thing that came from his self-proclaimed isolation.

In the meantime, he was discreetly searching for clues. When he would have discovered in advance what the objective of the Task was, _because he would,_ he would discard everything that was not related to it, and concentrate on the important spells.

He managed also to find the time to go and see Hedwig four days after his confrontation in the Great Hall. To say that the bird was annoyed about his lack of visiting was a euphemism, and she made him remember cuffing his head with her wings, repeatedly, and sharply pecking his fingers.

Harry had no excuse in her eyes since she had been worried about him, and only the promise of more frequent coming over to stay with her and a lot of bacon treats made the owl restrain from attacking him more. She had always been a temperamental one, he mused, and it seemed that the girls in his life liked to _get their hands on him_. He smirked and blushed at the double-entendre, Daphne's lips immediately in his mind.

One of these times in the Owlery gave Harry a chance to reflect while petting his beloved first friend.

His one was a sad and comforting situation at the same time. Sad because in the end he did not have human friends to talk with, except Daphne, her sister, and Tracey; but comforting, because he _was not alone_. And if Harry feared anything, Dementors excluded, it was something about being alone _forever_.

Luckily, Hedwig knew _her human_ , so she was ready to provide comfort with soft hoots and her head brushing against his cheek. Harry's mood lifted a bit, thanks to her familiar beautiful snowy owl.

* * *

The reactions of the other Schools and the four Houses of Hogwarts, after the _show_ (as Snape was usually fast to remind) Harry Potter put out on the evening of the last day of October was almost the same.

 _He would have to go down!_

The Ravens of the high knowledge Nest were maybe the most detached from all the general situation. Maybe being the key word. From the outside, their House was not directly involved in the events, since no one of their seventh years dropped their name into the Goblet of Fire. But, from the inside, since Harry _insulted_ all the School with his stunt, and since he was trying to steal the spot of Cho's _boyfriend_ Diggory, they worked with the others to find a way to make him _unable_ to participate.

Just one of them was on Harry's side, even if she had never met the boy personally. But the blibbering humdingers always spoke the truth about people, and she had learned to trust them, unlike the nargles.

The Badgers, forever hard workers and loyal, were the most enraged of all Hogwarts. Their very own Cedric was indeed the first to have been chosen for the competition, and that was the highest honor for them. But then, _Harry Potter_ had to _ruin_ everything! He shamelessly put his name into the cup, in which way was not known, but it was not important because, in the end, _he did it_!

And for that, _he would pay_!

Not a lot of people knew that Badgers, when pressured, could be vicious and ferocious aggressive predators. Right now, that was the mood inside the common room of their House, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

Like idiots, instead of thinking, they simply wanted a scapegoat to abuse, and unfortunately, _Harry Potter was the perfect one._

The other two Houses were very different, at least on the paper. Most of Gryffindor hated the slimy Snakes with a passion, and most of Slytherin despised the idiotic Lions with the same intensity. But in this particular situation, they could easily have had a meal and a party together, joking and laughing.

The Snakes of the Pit wanted to destroy the enemy of their Lord, and this occasion was the best that they could have on their hands. From them, only Cassius Warrington, the seventh-year prefect, decided to put his name into the Goblet, and to tell the truth, he was not interested in the political happenings.

But the House of Slytherin had to appear always unified on the outside, so in the end he didn't really have a choice.

"Greengrass! Davis! Where have you been?" Asked Malfoy, forcibly. He did not notice their disappearance until they came back to their common room under the lake.

Daphne adopted immediately her Ice Queen mask, and some of the males in the room covered their privates at the thought of what she was capable do to with her wand.

With the wand she was currently balancing between her fingers, because she knew how to _intimidate_ someone.

A sixth year Ravenclaw, followed by a fifth year Slytherin and again another fifth had their family jewels _permanently shrunk_ and unable to do their work unless using a particular and _very expensive_ stimulating potion. And this just for bumping into her after a class, and making her fall down; or wetting her two weeks long researched Arithmancy essay with pumpkin juice before a meal; or, worse, trying to get into her knickers.

No one knew, but the last one had _much more_ than his jewels shrunken down _._

"Not that it is important for you, _Malfoy_." She always said his name with such disgust and loathing that someone could perceive it from the other side of the Castle. "But we followed Potter to try and see where he would go and hide."

"So, maybe, we could ambush him in the dark." Added Davis, from her side.

"And?" Drawled the albino boy.

"And… we were behind him until he reached the Dorks tower. He went inside, but he never got out."

That spread incredulity among all the presents. Did Potter try to get a refuge _inside_ his ex-House place?

It was a stupid choice, and even the idiot Potter could not have been so thick to do something like that. There was surely _something_ inside the Gryffs Tower that he needed, and then… he had the whole Castle to use to go into hiding.

There was also the possibility that the Lions had already trapped him, and that could explain his disappearance. But when they got out from the dining hall, after the stupid Badgers, he could still see almost all the Gryffindors still seated at the table, discussing animatedly among them. So no, he must have had some kind of plan.

"He never got out? Are you sure about that? He could have used an Invisibility Cloak!" Said Pansy Parkinson, Draco's fiancé, from her permanent place on his arm.

"He could have…" Again, shouting around the room. "…but we would have seen the door open. He could be invisible, but he not as immaterial as a ghost."

"You are right, Greengrass. So why do you have stopped watching the entrance? He could have come out right as we are speaking now down here!"

They were saved by their Head of House, who answered entering the room and giving out the same excuse they had prepared.

"Because it is almost curfew, and I think that even my Snakes would not like to be caught by that filthy squib during the night, right?"

"Exactly, Professor."

"Surely we don't want to pass our evenings cleaning bathrooms!" That generated a wave of disgust from everyone in the room.

"Good. Remember, our House always presents a united front, and this will be again our main point of action."

Malfoy and a lot of other members were smiling cruelly. Practically, he was giving them _carte blanche_ to act against Potter! Astoria shuddered at the view and went into the waiting arms of her older sister.

"But, we are Slytherin. We do not get caught. Or if we do, the fault will be given to someone else." He scanned all the room to reinforce his point. "Potter has made his biggest mistake as of date, and we will surely use this opportunity."

And, before going out, he concluded. "As strange as it may seem, all the other Houses have similar thoughts. Act accordingly."

The three girls were out of the common room in a flash, after excusing themselves. They did not notice a pair of cold brown eyes following them suspiciously.

"Blaise, keep an eye out for them. I don't think that they have told us all the truth."

The half Italian boy nodded. "Understood, Nott."

Going from the plotting in the deepest dungeon to the planning in the highest tower, instead, the _proud_ Lions of Gryffindor were into a sudden and impromptu meeting in the common room, with all the House present and accounted for.

Ronald Weasley had been silenced a little while ago though, since the only things that were coming out of his mouth were something akin to "I told you! Dark Wizard! He'll kill us! Dark Wizard! Glory hound! I told you!" Repeating and repeating like a broken disk, and it was not useful to the conversation.

Hermione was trying to elaborate all that had happened during the evening. But, for the first time in her life, it was proving a difficult thing to do. She wanted to find a reason for everything, but in this case, her voluntary blindness regarding certain matters and her worshipfulness of authorities was working against her.

She was derailed from her thoughts by their chaser, Angelina Johnson. "Have you seen what he has done? He renounced to his House! This is unacceptable! It's an unheard thing, it will taint our reputation forever!"

Her fellow Quidditch company, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet, nodded with her. It was incredible and at the same time demeaning for all of them. Their House would always have a black spot on its mark of courage and pride for the Lions since no one, in recorded history, did what Potter had done.

All this caused by the _fame-hungry_ Boy-Who-Lived! Angelina could not comprehend why he would have done something like that, she had no problem with Cedric since the Goblet chose him _rightfully_. But Harry had to go and butt himself him, whatever cheat he had used.

It was almost farfetched. He was their precious seeker, a pillar for the whole Quidditch squad, always honest and kind with everyone else. But after this, h _e had to suffer the consequences!_

The Twins were already in their world, developing something to catch him and making him understand that _no one_ threatened their family without repercussions. They had written to their mother, father, and brothers, to announce the facts.

Maybe they could have helped too, in some way or another. And their mum would surely not have been pleased about _certain things_. Howlers were surely incoming for the spectacled boy.

Ginny was still sobbing, and Hermione was trying to console her in her arms, but she was not having great results. Like the little red headed girl, she understood Harry's point of view, but all the Professors had not acted to defend him, and he clearly _broke the rules_. That was _not allowable_ in her book, and when she would see him again she would speak with him, she would _make him pay_ for the hurtful words he told her.

Just thinking again about what he said brought a new wave of sadness. How could he do that? How dare he? Didn't he think about her feelings, at all? Had everything been only a game for the famous last Potter and right now he didn't need her anymore?

Millions of questions swarmed in Hermione's brain, but the real problem was that she was not reasoning with a cold mind. She, like everyone else, was still too involved to have a clear and rational line of thought.

A shame, because a single night of rest could have changed everything between redemption and stupidity.

All the House rallied under the banner of _driving_ Harry Potter _out_ , and make him _understand_ that _no one_ could call the House of Lions a House of Jackals and get skip-free after that!

* * *

"Daddy! What did you do?"

Charlus was awake now, and Daphne ended her suntan session a half an hour before. She had a quick shower and came back to the drawing room, with her skin glowing.

"Your daddy was strong, he did not fear all those bad people, but he knew that he had to pay attention."

The boy looked at his father and mother both. "I don't understand."

Harry chuckled a bit at that. "Charlus, what do we tell you when you are running around the gardens and the elves are working around?"

"To not disturb them, and to not run into them."

Daphne understood what his husband wanted to explain with that example. "Good. Now imagine if all the elves were bad people who wanted to hurt you. What would you do?"

He pouted, thinking about when he fell from his muggle bicycle for the first time. "I don't like getting hurt. I would… I don't know."

The boy seemed to reflect hard about it. Little Lily, on his right side, was doing the same and finally said. "It's like when you told me that before doing something I have to… to think about it?"

"Exactly, Lily." She sported a great smile (whit a missing tooth, fallen the week before), proud to have understood.

"Like your sister has answered, Charlus, if those people were around you, and as we said, they wanted to hurt you, what would have you done to not get hurt?"

"Lily said I have to think about it, and you said that I have to pay attention." His face was scrunched even more. "I would…" His eyes lit up when he had the response. "I would try to not go near them. Maybe with time they would not want to hurt me anymore."

"Good answer!" The smile of the boy matched the one her sister was having.

Harry ruffled his hairs and added. "And like you, I didn't want to get hurt."

"So your daddy, while brave, had to plan before doing something. And stay away from them for a while."

Their children were rewarded with quick sloppy kisses on their cheeks.

"Love, what did we do to have such intelligent kids?"

Daphne closed the distance between her and Harry, eliciting an _eeeeewww_ from Charlus and an excited squeal from Lily, and kissed him lightly.

"It's obvious, they are all their mother!" She said with an air of superiority, putting her nose in the air.

Harry snorted and looked at her amazing blue eyes. "Tracey was right. You have the same strange dark humor as me."

Her answer was a very dark glare directed at her husband, followed by the giggles of the children.

"But, continuing with the story, that's what your father did then…"

* * *

Everything was fine for the first days when he also thought about writing to Sirius, but he was on the run from the Ministry, and if he came to Hogwarts he would have risked too much.

He could not lose his only family, and after everything he did the year before, he did not want to see him kissed in front of his eyes. It would be too much to bear. No, when the situation would have been calmer, maybe after the Task, he would contact him. But not in the immediate future. He just hoped that, after reading the sure headlines he had made on the Prophet, he would manage to remain a little bit rational, and not to come at Hogwarts running in his Grim form.

His routine, however, came crashing down just five days before the First Task, on November 19th.

He went to the Owlery two nights before, but she was not there. He waited for about an hour under his Cloak without seeing her, only some second years sending their mail.

 _'Maybe she went hunting. I'll try again tomorrow.'_

When the next day the situation was the same, he began to worry. And, when he went back to Myrtle's bathroom and found the note, the panic in his stomach evolved into _rage_.

-They have Hedwig. We don't know their intentions, please be safe. D. A. T.-

He incinerated the small slip of paper. So, Malfoy wanted a confrontation.

His eyes were again ablaze, shining a vivid green. _A confrontation he would have!_

He was already concerned about what he would have to do for the Tournament and was already nervous about that. Now, this was a wrench thrown right into his plans.

He just _knew_ that Malfoy wanted an audience, like the loser he was, so the only places freely available were the courtyards around the school. He waited patiently, letting his magic build up, and calming himself. Even if it was proving to be so damn difficult.

The same day, after lunch, he saw a group of Snakes going towards the eastern courtyard, followed suspiciously by some Badgers, while the Ravens and Gryffs were still in the Great Hall. He had to risk it, he would _not_ leave Hedwig alone.

She never ever did.

Cloaked under his Invisibility Cape, he quietly and quickly crossed all the corridors, classroom and little halls, going from secret passage to secret passage. He thanked his father and all the Marauders for that. Maybe it was not their intention, but they were helping him so much even from decades before his time!

When he finally reached the open space, his blood went above the boiling point in an instant.

Hedwig was in a cage, with bloodied feathers. She seemed to be breathing, but he could not see well from where he was hidden. Damn them, if she was about to die _someone else_ would have died with her. He tried to summon the cage to him, but nothing happened. Evidently, it was charmed against that spell.

"Potter!"

He could also see Draco, in the middle of the courtyard, his face and hands had numerous fresh scratches on them. Surely a gift from his faithful owl while he was trying to capture her.

"Coward!"

It was strange that she hadn't managed to fly outside the Owlery tower before being captured. Maybe they had used some kind of blocking spell for magical animals?

"Come out!"

Harry looked around the area, wherever he would have revealed himself, he would have been surrounded. There were Slytherins all around, and he had to consider the Badgers too.

Well, as their crazy Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would say: adapt to the situation and choose your ground. Single person targeting spells were immediately excluded, he would have had to work with wide area enchantments.

He decided to start by going near Crabbe and Goyle, who were standing under one of the four trees which delimited the borders of the inner square of the courtyard itself. Getting them out of the scene would provide two things: two heavy built boys down, and a place for him to start. A foothold, so to speak.

His new wand was shrunken down and attached to his arm, under the robe. He would not need to reveal it to everyone before the First Task.

Suddenly, two dull thuds broke the silence around the area. The bulky boys were out for the count, and Harry was still not seen around. Where was he?

"Potter! Fight like a man!"

"Or are you too scared, like the bastard you are?"

Now now, insulting his parents. His anger spiked and he readied himself for the battle, since it was time to uncover the cards and to show a few his capabilities.

"If you don't come out right now, your owl will die!"

"I'm here, _Malfoy._ " He materialized from nothing under the tree, relaxing against the solid wood. Immediately all the presents started to scream and to call him names.

They all had their wands pointed towards him, with spells already lighting their focal points. They would not have been a problem after all, but if he had to move while shielding himself he could not maintain a Protego Maxima in that situation.

To be effective he had to be standing still. And it was not possible.

Again, like Moody told them during one of their first lessons, some risks were acceptable to gain the final victory.

"Ah, finally! The _cheater!"_

"You have decided to show yourself then. Admirable, but useless."

"What do you have on your dress, Malfoy? A fancy _womanly_ decoration?"

It was a pin, with some writing on it. Accioing the one from Crabbe he read it.

 _Potter. The Disgrace of Hogwarts._

He snorted. _That_ was supposed to make him mad? It was nothing more than a child's tantrum.

"Wow, Malfoy." He snickered. "Did you stay awake every night for a week to think about this?" He started to laugh helplessly. It was _so_ stupid and _so_ funny at the same time!

Pointing discreetly his wand arm towards the ground, he smiled and sent his wide area charm, focusing it to act only on the round insignias.

All the pins transformed into badges with a golden bolt carved on it, and at the same time, the writing was completely erased. "Really, _Draco_." He gave him a sad look. "You didn't have to do all this to support me. I'm almost embarrassed."

Astoria was failing to contain her laughter, Tracey had tears going down her cheeks and you could clearly perceive cracks on Daphne's perfect mask by the curve of her lips. They managed to not get seen by anyone else, but that would have been another hilarious story to tell.

As soon as Draco saw the new inscription on the badge on his chest, he ripped it from his robe and threw it towards the ground with anger, stomping on it with his shoe.

Without a warning, he raised his wand toward Hedwig, and Harry saw the beginning of a red colored spell in front of it. Not having time to think, only to act, he cast a Protego over the cage, which effortlessly rebounded Draco's attack towards other students, and shot running towards the middle of the field. Immediately, all the other Slytherins began their firing, and while he was moving he was able to evade most of their incantations, but not all.

Some Cutting Charms managed to reach him in the back, tearing his robe and opening a few wounds. A Blasting Charm almost got his right foot and threw him out of his run, and some Confringos made the terrain around his steps explode, forcing some sharp turns.

Still, he did not fire back. At least, until _he had_ _everyone there_.

He knew that Dumbledore was tied to the wards of the Castle, and said wards would have alerted him of the spell fire in the eastern courtyard, where he was right now. He just had to endure a bit more, and then…

The Badgers, after seeing that he was not retaliating against the Snakes, came out from the cover of the stone archways and focused themselves on him. That was good.

The Slytherins instead were still inside, _clever_ , but not enough to get out from his action range.

After other ten or twenty seconds of evading most of the spells and getting caught by less and less, finally, the professors arrived, together with most of the other students.

"What in the name of Merlin is happening here!?" Shouted McGonagall.

A sixth, or fifth, year Snake answered her. "Potter came here to taunt us, Professor! He fired and we responded to him!"

Harry should have expected something like that. The shots on him never wavered, and again Dumbledore was doing nothing. Having a sudden inspiration, the Boy-Who-Lived decided on a course of action that would have surprised the old man, as well as everyone else.

He immediately understood that it was a rehearsed play because just after the Slytherin boy spoke, Snape added his useless words. "Potter! You will be expelled from this School for this!" His sneer reached a level never achieved before, and his hand was itching to go to his wand.

"Professors!" Shouted Harry, while seeing the Twins enter the fray, and from the other side the official Tri-Wiz Champions doing the same: he instantly knew that he had to finish this fast, otherwise he would have been surely overwhelmed. "I could use a little help here!"

He was almost at the cage, just a couple metres more and Hedwig would have been safe in his hands. The only effect from his request to the teachers was answered by Flitwick and Babbling, who put some shields against the group of students near the entrance.

A lucky shot from Cedric Diggory partially halted his run. His Piercing Hex destroyed half of his shoulder blade, making him shout loudly from the pain, and hurtling him around where a Cutting Curse from Delacour slashed his torso, and a Blasting Hex with thanks from Krum flung him from the ground.

Luckily for Harry, he was already above Hedwig's cage.

As soon as he touched it, it disappeared under his Invisibility Cloak, and he fell unceremoniously on the hard stone paved terrain of the square yard. His shoulder and right arm were throbbing for the wound, and he had to grit his teeth together to contain the screams. He immediately began to push his magic to heal him, even if the pain doubled for that.

Everyone around him was laughing, Ron included, while Hermione had a smug look that screamed _'You got what you deserved for going against the rules.'_

 _What a bitch._

"I told you Potter! You have always been a pathetic one!" It was funny, Malfoy thought he was winning.

He fixed his eyes on Daphne for a single fraction of a second, and he sharply moved them to the side, conveying the message.

 _Get the hell out of here!_

He saw the trio moving away slowly in the background, and he noticed also a little blonde haired gray-eyed girl doing the same, after winking at him. Who was that?

"My boy, come with me now, and we will tend to those injuries. Then we will talk about your actions."

Harry strained to regain his balance and was forced to remain crouched on one leg. He was still breathing hard and with some difficulty but the pain in his shoulder was receding, and the cut on his torso was already healing nicely. He would have to force it a little bit, but by the next day, he would have been as good as new, albeit tired.

"The sage Dumbledore finally speaks!" Mocking him was fun, he should have done it way more often. "Sorry, _Headmaster_ , I have no intention at all to do what you have said."

"I'm sorry my boy. It seems that we have reached a point of no return, so you will have to be detained."

He could see almost everyone lift their wands. If his memory was good -after the blast he was still a little dazed, and the world was still spinning around him- the color was the one of the Stunning Spell.

His smirk reached his ears. _Perfectly what he wanted_.

"Stupe…"

As soon as he heard the first syllable, he sprang into action and launched his incantation!

"DEFODIO!"

The Gouging Spell rushed down from the base of his wand to its tip, sending a tingling sensation against his bare forearm, and then shooting into the terrain below faster than the blink of an eye.

This, added to the magical overcharge Harry delivered together with the incantation, had a literally _explosive_ effect on all the courtyard.

It was like a muggle _war_ _bomb_ had just detonated three feet underground!

All the terrain, the paved stones, the trees, the archway… _everything_ was blasted towards the sky! After four or five seconds, he could see chunks of earth almost floating in mid-air, together with every student in his range of fire. Some did lose their wand in the process, and all the Stunning Spells had gone in awkward directions, no one finding its initial target.

But Harry _was not finished_.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

The Full Body-Bind Curse was launched while everyone was still almost floating in a zero-g environment, not that those _magical folks_ knew anything about that, and everyone was simply helpless against it.

People without wands could not even cast a simple Protecting Charm, and all the other ones were still too surprised by the action of a supposedly losing, battered and bleeding boy.

Time seemed to slow down, Harry was able to catch the expression on some of the faces of the presents. Malfoy was enraged, the Professors stunned and almost awed at the display, heck, for Moody it seemed like it was Christmas again and again.

The Badgers were looking at him with pure loathing on their faces. It was sad, the cute Susan Bones had such an enjoyable happy complexion normally. After what her and her friend Hannah had done to him, spreading nasty rumors, during his Second Year, this was a nice retribution.

The three Champions were also involved in the effects. Cedric was turned on is back while floating, so no luck to see his face, Viktor was surprised but continued to consider him nothing more than a nuisance, while Fleur was trying to smooth down her skirt to avoid wandering eyes and looking at him with pure hatred.

Heh, sometimes, wearing something like that _could be a problem._ He chuckled at the sight.

But, still, Harry _was not finished!_

He had to make them _pay_ for what they had done to Hedwig, and they had to pray Merlin and Morgana together if the damage she had was something permanent.

Just a few seconds had passed since his first spell. He looked again at Dumbledore and grinned, twisting his wand arm in a sharp straight forward movement.

"OPPUGNO!"

Everything, _everything_ , that was previously floating became… a projectile.

Chunks of terrain, broken stones, pieces of trees, branches, parts of the archway, even the pebbles.

And their targets were just in the middle of them. _Easy preys._

In a single instant, tens, hundreds of pieces of _anything_ became weapons, at Harry's service. All the students who were firing on him were hit, multiple times, from every direction, from every angle. He could see bodies twisting under the barrage, people screaming for the pain, other students screaming in fright, and the Professors trying to contain the damage.

 _A useless task._

There were too many objects in the field to slow everything down in a short amount of time. And, while this was happening, gravity started to work again, and battered bodies started to fall again towards the ground. From two and a half meters above it.

The sound of bones cracking was something like _music_ to him, especially after seeing Malfoy crushed against what remained of a stone column. He had a satisfied expression on his face and smirked at them all.

"Accio Firebolt!"

His faithful broom rushed to him, smacking the palm of his open hand. With the other, he grabbed the cage through his Invisibility Cloak and hovered on the destroyed courtyard.

"What did I tell to all of you?"

There was only silence around him, except for the moans of pain.

 _"_ _Do. Not. Cross. Me!"_

Before anyone could answer, he shot towards the sky, accelerating instantly at maximum speed, and leaving the battlefield as a winner.

He truly could _not_ contain his excitement.

Harry decided to not return immediately to the School since the corridors would be full of wounded people going to the infirmary. He had to tend to Hedwig first and foremost.

He landed near the Forbidden Forest, on the other side compared to Hagrid's Hut, and after wrenching open the cage he re-enervated his beloved familiar.

Hedwig was disorientated but managed to look at her human.

"Hoot." It was so sad and feeble that Harry almost got into a rage fit again. He brought her to his chest with his arms. "Don't worry Hedwig, you'll be ok. You'll heal nicely and fast. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I left you alone, I'm sorry that you got caught, I'm sorry that I was so late…"

He did not manage to finish his rambling, mixed with tears because his owl nipped him on the finger he was using to preen her breast feathers.

"Hoot!" This was more intense, and she wanted to convey the message that everything was ok.

"You will come with me in the Chamber, and we will go out together at night, what do you think girl? Flying side by side in the darkness?"

She was still weak for all the ordeal, but you could see the excitement in her amber eyes. "Hoot Hoot!" He smiled. Eeverything would have been good now.

After only half a minute, he assumed that he had jinxed it again.

This because both human and familiar heard a powerful and scary roar that came from inside the forest. A roar accompanied with an orange hue behind the thick bulk of the trees.

"No, they could _not_ have…"

A second, a third, and _fourth_ roar, always paired with the same red-orange lighting meant only a single thing.

 _Dragons!_

* * *

"Daddy was so awesome! I want to be like daddy!"

Harry blushed a bit, even if it was your son complimenting you, he was always so easily embarrassed.

"Did I ever tell you how _awesome_ you were in that situation, love?"

The tone of the word _awesome_ was one Harry knew well. The sultry, excited, and awed tone that his wife reserved to him only in certain situations. Situations which would have required a bed, no clothes at all, and Silencing Charms all over their room.

He turned towards her, and towards her smoldering eyes. "Yes, my gem. But I would _love_ a reminder!"

Their children did not understand, still, what their parents meant when they talked like that, but since it was not into the story, they simply did not care. It had to be a grown-up's thing.

"Mummy! Daddy! What happened after?"

"Well, I was still with aunty Tracey and aunty Storia…"

* * *

While Harry was taking care of Hedwig, and luckily she had no broken wings, just what it seemed like a concussion from the Stunning Spell they used to block her, Daphne, Tracey, and Astoria masked their presence disappearing in the middle of the crowd which was traveling inside the corridors of the School.

As soon as they were in front of the entrance of their common room they bolted inside, running towards their dorms, which was a big triple bed wide space, shared between the three. The figurine, the cover with Harry's name, his Quidditch robe and the set of books about his adventures made this one maybe the most anti-Slytherin room in all Hogwarts' history.

Their House would have been outraged, ashamed, and enraged in seeing such a display of items. But since Daphne's mother was an expert with Concealing Charms, even if someone entered it, only a master like Flitwick could have undone the masking on those items.

Closing the door behind them, locking it with triple incantations, and putting double alarms on it, they just collapsed on a bed.

Daphne was still trembling from the enthusiasm she was feeling. "Oh Morgana!"

"Did you see _what_ has he done with them?"

"I was worried for him when he fell, but it was all his plan from the beginning!"

"Harry wanted to humiliate them like they did to him at the dinner!"

Daphne was still revisiting the memory. _Her_ Harry defied everybody, and showed them _what_ he was capable of doing! He was simply _perfect_!

' _Okay'_ The blonde thought, almost giggling. _'Maybe too much Boy-who-Won-against-Everyone admiration here.'_ But she could not do otherwise, she was still too excited.

"Tracey to Daphne, Tracey to Daphne! Come down from these clouds!" She was laughing after seeing the dreaming look in the eyes of her fair-haired friend.

Astoria knew what he had to do. "Hey sister, would you mind if we shared? I _so_ want him to be my boyfriend now and we are both Greengrasses!"

"NO!" Astoria smirked. _That_ always worked.

"You are all mean, you know?"

Tracey smiled at her companion, and hugged her. It was always amazing to be able to see the real Daphne Greengrass, and not the hard and unapproachable Ice Queen who was ever present outside their room. A normal girl, with desires and passions, who happened to love someone dearly. "We are the best friends you could have in the whole world, Daph."

She could not say anything against that. She had been lucky to have them, especially in the venomous Pit.

The three girls continued to talk about what happened well into the night. It was only in the wee hours of the morning when they managed to fall asleep, all together in the same bed.

* * *

Harry and Hedwig waited until the sunset, before deciding to go back. He had given her some owl treats and made her drink some water taken from the nearby stream on the sides of the forest, and she seemed to get better by the hours. He could not have been happier.

Landing silently on the grass just outside the main wall of the Castle he opened a hidden passage and went immediately in.

As soon as he went out of it, however, he found himself face to face with the same young gray-eyed girl that winked at him before. She had a vacant stare and a serene smile on her lips.

"Hello, Harry Potter. The dabberblimps said to me that I would find you here."

"Err… The dabberwhat?"

"The dabberblimps! Haven't you ever heard about them?"

"No, I… I don't think so." Who was this strange girl with her wand behind her ear?

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She blinked a couple of times. "I am Luna Lovegood, but the others call me Loony."

That was not a nice thing to hear, it seemed like a bullying nickname. But that one was not the best moment to make new acquaintances. Someone could come and see him.

He smiled at her. "Pleasure to meet you, Luna. I'm sorry, but I have to go now. If they find me, it will not be a nice show."

"Don't worry Harry Potter, after what you did this afternoon no one in the Castle is searching for you. Even the Nargles are busy with other things."

Nargles? Dabbersomething? Were those animals what did he miss in the classes with Hagrid this year? If so, where the half-giant had managed to find them?

"Come with me, I know a secret place, and I can help you with your companion." She gestured toward Hedwig, who hooted gently in an affirmative way.

There was something about the girl which inspired him to trust her. However, he was ready with his wand, in case it would have been an ambush.

Luna seemed to know her way well, and after going behind a very worn out tapestry, he came into a half-furnished room, with a bed, some clothes were thrown around, and a table was filled with parchments, strange colorful quills, and books. A couple of candles were lit on her bedside and above the table.

He _so_ hoped that his first impression was wrong. But his gut instinct was loudly saying the opposite.

"Give me your beautiful familiar Harry Potter, I will heal her."

The boy crouched to put his shoulder at the same level of the table, and Hedwig hopped from it onto the wooden surface. She didn't still feel good enough to try and take flight, so her movements were quite limited as of now.

"What is her name?"

"Hedwig, she is my first true friend, and I could not go on if something happened to her." The bird rewarded Harry with an appreciative peck on his finger.

"A warrior name, fitting for such a majestic bird."

Harry thought that if his companion was a human there would have been no way to stop her blush to appear on her cheeks. Instead, she opted to proudly push her chest in front of her.

What Luna did after stunned him. It had been astounding.

She just put her hands around Hedwig's sides, without touching her. The blonde girl muttered then some kind of long incantation, in a language that Harry never heard before, and at the end of it, some strange blueish glow encased his owl.

It didn't seem harmful, and Hedwig stood still for all the duration of the 'treatment', if one could call it so.

Just under the three minutes mark, the blue glow disappeared, and Luna almost collapsed from the intense work that she did with her magic. Harry was fast to embrace her from behind and guide the girl towards the bed.

Hedwig simply launched a powerful "HOOT!" and flew away from the table, circling excitedly around the room full of energy! Harry laughed happily at seeing his beloved owl fly again without constraints and turned to Luna to thank her for that great gift.

"Luna, thank you! I don't know if I can do something to repay you for everything you have done for me and Hedwig in the past hour, but if there is something, please, please let me know!" He smiled widely at her. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Hedwig hooted again and the Lovegood girl smiled prettily at both of them.

"You don't need to thank me, Harry Potter. I like all kinds of animals, so it's normal that I would want to help them." She was so selfless, so caring. Why in that rotten world weren't there more individuals like her?

Without the concern about her friend on his mind, Harry turned once more his eyes around the room. "Luna, I don't want to be, how to say it…"

She blinked. "You want to know if I sleep here, Harry Potter?"

"Well…"

"Yes, I have been living here since my second month of school."

"And you are in your third year, right?"

"Ravenclaw." She answered smiling.

He could feel the first sparks of anger coming up to him. Why was she living like that? If she was a Ravenclaw, shouldn't she be living in the tower, with her classmates?

And now that he looked at her more closely, he noticed that she didn't have any shoes on, and was barefooted. Her uniform was old and tattered and all the clothes he could see were in the same state. It was a painful reminder for him.

The girl noticed his examinations and expected his question. "Luna… sorry, but why?"

He dreaded her answer. Because everything around them almost retold _his own_ story in the cupboard under the stairs.

She observed him intensely, her eyes were so enthralling and intimidating at the same time that he felt she was looking straight at his very soul, as to judge him worthy or not. After some minutes, she simply shuddered and went towards him slowly, with humid eyes. He filled the space between them and embraced her strongly, hearing the first sobs from the little girl.

Hedwig was softly cooing as Harry stroked gently her white-blond hair, so similar to Astoria's, while murmuring reassuring things in her ears. He didn't know how much time passed, but at some point, Luna looked up at him with her beautiful wet wide gray eyes. "You are a good man, Harry Potter."

"I don't know, Luna." He sighed. "Lately I am only a bitter and angry boy, enraged with everyone."

"You are not at fault, Harry Potter. _You will emerge victorious against all odds._ " Her irises had become slightly misty, and her voice had suddenly taken a different tone.

He was shaken from that. "Luna, you can really _see_ something else, that no one can?"

She blinked one single time and _mmmhed_ to him. "My mummy always said that I had a gift. And that it was one of the most precious gifts in the world. But I don't know what that means, she never explained it to me."

Harry never trusted Divination and everything related to it, it was a waste of time, and he decided to go with it simply because it was an easy subject, with high passing marks and no work at all. But Luna was clearly different, and she was not crazy… he had met a lot of crazy people in the Wizarding World, and the girl was not one of them.

Maybe it was better to talk with Daphne and the girls about it to see if they knew her, or if they could talk to her Head of House. Or maybe _he_ could do it, and then leave the matter to them. He had the distinct fear that she was being bullied by someone.

"And these Nargles or the other ones, what are they?"

She smiled again, happy to talk about her hidden animals. "They are strange creatures which steal things from people, and they hide them in their nests. They are quite difficult to catch and are always elusive. Someone thinks that they are invisible too because no one has ever seen them. You need necklaces like mine to keep them away, even if some of them are really powerful."

"And how can you do it? Look at them, I mean."

"They are always around me, a lot of things I had got stolen over the years. Maybe it was because I disturbed their little ones?" She answered sadly with a downcast look.

Harry put immediately two plus two together. He didn't know what happened to Luna in the past, but if she was so similar to him in a certain sense, he did not want to imagine it. And he knew that there was no easy way to push the subject out in the open: if he wasn't hunted by all the school he would have raced to Ravenclaw Tower to give everyone there a good piece of his mind.

Delicately, he asked, still praying Merlin and Morgana to be proven wrong. "Luna… I'm sorry, but… who did it?"

The girl seemed to become smaller and smaller, she clutched at his chest with all the strength she had, burrowed her face into the crook of his neck, while trembling in his arms.

In a soft voice, so soft that it was not louder than a whisper, she said. "How do you know?"

He could feel hot tears coming down from his eyes, thinking again about his personal hell in Privet Drive. "Because, Luna, I lived like you are doing now for the first ten years of my life. With no one around me, no possessions to call mine, and no one to rely on. _I was_ _alone._ "

She snapped her head and looked at him again, moist eyes filled with compassion, with understanding, and with care.

"I never met someone like you, Harry Potter."

"Harry, Luna, only Harry for my friends."

She gasped, and he thought that he had said something wrong. "Friends?"

"Yes."

"I never… I never had someone like that. Only my Daddy."

It was so heart-wrenching that Harry could not stop to consider her like a little sibling of his. His instincts were _screaming_ for him to protect the girl in his arms, _to destroy_ whoever did something wrong to her.

"You are not alone anymore Luna, I and my friends will look after you now."

She almost squeezed the life out of him and continuedly thanked the boy for that simple yet so meaningful gesture of affection towards her. A gesture that no one, except her father, ever did for the 'crazy Loony Lovegood'.

Harry thought that she could have been one of the sweetest girls he ever met, and he remained with her for hours talking about nothing and everything, looking discreetly now and then at the Map, to see if someone was coming until she fell asleep on her bed. He went out from her hiding place, leaving a small note which told her to talk with Astoria or Daphne Greengrass, or with Tracey Davis, and to trust them to help her. Before leaving, he transfigured some parchments into nice warm blankets and put them on her little figure.

Her smile was all he could ask as a reward. It _filled_ him.

But now, he had a _letter_ to write!

* * *

The morning after, in the Staff Room of the School, all the Professors were discussing the latest development about Harry Potter.

"Albus!" Roared Moody. "I want him in my Auror Squad after this Tournament! Have you seen what he was capable of doing at fourteen years old? I don't care about his age; he could teach to my new recruits! The strategy, the action, all perfectly coordinated! He will be the best among my men!"

The little Charms half goblin Professor added. "The execution was flawless, if we were doing the OWL exams I would have given him an O straight ahead. That is sixth to seventh-year capability."

Dumbledore was always more and more astonished by the last Potter prowess in the fighting field. "Minerva, did you ever suspect that he could have been so…"

Minerva McGonagall was a stoic professor, always ready to enforce the rules to guarantee a good growing up for all the children in the Scottish School. But after the confrontation with Harry in the Great Hall, she was not so sure of herself anymore, about a lot of things she had done in the past.

She knew that she had failed him, following blindly the directives of Dumbledore, and failed him _badly._ Regaining his trust would have been an uphill battle, to say the least. _James and Lily would have been so disappointed…_

"Minerva. Are you with us?"

She was shaken out her reverie and finally answered. "Yes Albus, I'm sorry. And no, he always has been a mediocre student at best, just above the School mean, and barely going into his subjects with enthusiasm." The cat animagus shook her head and continued. "The first excitement in our school topics seemed to have disappeared after his Second Year, and from a certain point of view, I can even understand why…"

"It looks like that we have underestimated everything about him. Vastly so." The aged man was thinking a mile per minute about the new developments. "We could assume that the Tournament has somewhat forced this on him..."

Snape, maybe for the first time in his life, was silent, and without a ready retort in his mouth except for the ever-present sneer on his face. The boy had truly been good. Yes, he could have done better, but also, a lot worse. And it was _so sour_ for him to accept that. How he hated the brat!

Minerva spoke again. "It seemed like having James here again… with Lily's fury in him."

Severus inhaled sharply. _He did not need to hear that_.

They were interrupted by an unknown gray speckled brown owl, which entered the window and left a letter on the table, before leaving without waiting for an answer or treats.

Dumbledore was surprised. The office for the Staff Meetings was not certainly warded against post owls, but this was the first time in his long memory that they received something there.

Arithmancy Professor Vector was curious. "Who could have sent a letter straight here instead to the post collecting point for all teachers?"

Flitwick and Albus scanned the envelope, but it was curse-free. It seemed a normal letter.

"Well, let's open it and see who wanted to reach us." Said the Headmaster.

When he undid the white wrapping, an angry red box jumped out of it. Who in his mind could have sent them a _howler_?

"Oh dear…"

"We are not on speaking terms right now…" Hagrid was the first one to recognize it. "That voice… it is from 'Arry!"

Harry Potter? How did he manage to do it? It was a complex enchantment, beyond his current course of studies.

"…but yesterday, after our last _confrontation_ in the courtyard, I met a new friend. Luna Lovegood."

All cringed at the word _confrontation_ but continued to listen, since it seemed important. Minerva knew her well, being close with her late mother. "Oh, the little Luna. Since the death of her mother, Xenophilius said that everything was not the same anymore for them."

Harry's voice went on. "Did you know that she has some kind of healing powers? She managed to get Hedwig up and running in just a bunch of minutes! Has anyone talked to her about that?"

Madam Poppy Pomfrey, (Evil) Mistress of Hogwarts' Hospital (Prison) Ward, as Harry jokingly always called her, was stunned. She wasn't aware of that. "I never… Filius, did you know? She is one of your Ravens." But the tiny professor just shook his head in negative.

"Furthermore, I think that she could be something like a _seer_ , since she said to me some things, with glazed eyes and a strange tone in her voice." Albus blanched, he _knew_ something like that and looked at Professor Trelawney.

"Could we maybe get some certified seers, to pair with our Divination Professor, to establish if this is true?"

Sybill just nodded to him, she was indebted to the man for accepting her when no one did, and she knew the right people for that kind of job.

"However… that was just a side note." After that, the howler exploded.

"HOW IN THE NAME OF MAGIC COULD YOU LET SUCH A GENTLE GIRL BE BULLIED FOR THREE FUCKING YEARS! DID YOU KNOW THAT SHE IS LIVING IN AN ABANDONED CLASSROOM WITH TATTERS FOR ROBES, LIKE MINE WERE, AND NOT EVEN A BLANKET FOR HER BED BECAUSE SHE WAS FORCED OUT HER DORM!? SHE HAS NO COMPANIONS THERE, ONLY BOOKS, QUILLS AND CANDLES!"

"SHE SAID TO ME THAT SHE DID NOT HAVE ANY FRIENDS! SHE WAS WAILING DESPERATELY CLINGING TO ME WHILE TELLING THAT SHE NEVER HAD SOMEONE LIKE THAT IN ALL HER LIFE AT HOGWARTS, AND THAT I WAS THE FIRST ONE WHO TREATED HER WELL BECAUSE ALL THE OTHERS CALLED HER LOONY!"

"AND THEN, HER NARGLES! THEY ARE PEOPLE WHO STOLE HER THINGS, SHE WAS GOING AROUND BAREFOOTED FOR FUCKING SAKE BECAUSE SOME IDIOTS FROM RAVENCLAW STOLE AND HID ALL HER SHOES. AND THIS THING IS GOING ON SINCE THE SECOND MONTH OF HER FIRST YEAR! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!"

"I HOPE THAT YOU WILL BE ACTING FAST. IF NOT, I WILL DO SOMETHING, AND YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT! IT'S A PROMISE!"

The howler disintegrated itself with a bang, like the usual, after delivering its message. Every single professor was simply frozen in his place, eyes wide open -Severus included- not knowing what to do.

Minerva was crying, mirrored by Flitwick who was blaming himself for being so blind about one of his cute Ravens. The others were embarrassed in having been told down about how they did a shoddy work by a fourteen years old boy who now was the School's pariah.

Dumbledore had a hand in front of his eyes, and he was asking himself how that could have been possible.

"Someone… someone knew _anything_ about this?" Asked Professor Babbling with a hoarse voice.

The Charms Master managed to croak out. "It's my fault, it's entirely my fault. She came to me during her first year, but I dismissed her over her fantastic animals stories and on the fact that maybe she was having the beginners' difficulty in adapting to a new place."

He was completely subdued, and it was a strange view on the normally excited Charms Professor. "After a while, she stopped coming, and I thought that everything was solved. Even if I noticed from time to time that she was alone in the classroom. It's my fault, and double because another student of mine had to scream to me to make me open my eyes!" He punched the table angrily at the thought.

Albus looked at everyone. "You can say, dear Filius, that it is everyone's fault. One of our little children abused in this very castle." He paused and sighed worriedly. "And if she had to experience all that, I ask myself… how many others? How blind are we?"

"She always has been a particular one, Albus, but in classroom -at least mine- she was one of the best. Luna Lovegood has a very good feeling with her magic."

"I didn't imagine that she could have been shunned because of her particular abilities and stories."

Madam Hooch opened her beautiful yellow hawk eyes and scanned the table. "And, if what I have heard about the situation with Mr. Potter during his Second Year is right… I can understand how he can relate to her predicament."

"It appears that we have a lot of work to do. And I am asking myself, like Filius said, how could we have reached the point where a student had to explain things to us." That was the attractive Professor Sinistra, who always had her share of fans in the School.

"However…" said Minerva "…I never expected Mr. Potter to be so active with someone of another House. His parents were not quite like that about these kinds of things, as long as I can remember.

"No my dear…" opened Albus "…that was not James and Lily. That was even worse."

"What do you mean, Headmaster?" Asked Pomona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff. In the beginning, she was enraged with the Potter boy for having broken the loyalty rule of the School. But now, after all this and after noticing how her Badgers were falling lower and lower… she didn't like how her Burrow was changing.

"I mean… that was James' parents. Anyone of you remembers them?"

Flitwick blanched, and shivered. "Charlus Potter and Dorea Black."

Minerva had the final word of the discussion, putting her head in her hands. "May Merlin protect us, then."

* * *

Poor aunty Luna, she is so good with us!"

"She is a wonderful person, Lily, and we are happy that you can appreciate that."

"Her stories are always funny! Especially the ones about the crumply-hor… something!" It was still difficult for them to remember all those strange creatures.

"But the people at the end, their names! They had our names!" The two children chorused together.

"Yes Charlus, your great-grandfather was a great man, and he had a great woman by his side." He smiled at his little flower, while looking at Daphne with the corner of his eyes.

"And for you, Lily, your second name comes from your great-grandmother, Dorea Black. Maybe one of the greatest witches of all times."

Their mother added, in conclusion, seeing that the children were openly yawning. "You two bring within yourself the names of two among of the best witches and wizards that walked in the Magical World."

"And your daddy and your mummy are sure that you will be as great as them when you will grow up."

The children were now sleeping, and Harry and Daphne shared a long loving kiss. They meant all the world for them.

Up, over the fireplace, four people in a painting smiled at what their little Harry had become and at his beautiful family, with eyes full of pride.

* * *

 **END OF CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

 **Chapter Released on 30/06/17**

This concludes the second chapter of this fanfiction, another 13k words excluding the two AN at the beginning and the end of it.

As stated, the story will cover all the Goblet of Fire book (and movie), mixing elements from both. I hope that the next parts will be as long as this one and that I will be able to maintain a good update schedule. For the next chapter, since I'm relocating abroad during the Summer, I'm sorry to announce that it will be released probably during August.

I hope that you liked it! Don't forget to leave a Review!

See ya at the next one! Ciao!


	3. A Difficult Task

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the third chapter of my first story for the Harry Potter section!

Firstly, thank you again, everyone, for all the support, the favs, follows and obviously, the reviews! I never imagined reaching almost 500 favs and over 700 follows! They have been totally helpful, and I hope that I managed to answer every one of you and not forget anyone. If so, I'm sorry, but know that your time in writing one for my story is super-appreciated!

Secondly, but not less important, this has definitely taken too much time to see the light. This year has been a nightmare of things to do, between the moving, the exams and my final thesis for the college. But now I have graduated! So more and more time available to write! I hope to give you chapter four before the end of June, reaching in this way the half-mark of the story, more or less.

Since I am half Italian-half American I hope my English will be good enough for you international readers. Also, I do not know a lot of British English expressions, so please bear with me for that. Rating is M for some swearing and future possible intense scenes. In this AU some characters will be OOC, and there will be bashing around. The pairing is Harry/Daphne, my absolute favorite, with a Powerful!Independent!Harry on the stage. Get ready for another _"above orbit over the top"_ Harry Potter!

Please Read&Review!

I would like to dedicate this fic to the awesome writer _Dorothea Greengrass_. Her Harry/Daphne stories are simply great, so go and read them!

DISCLAIMER: I obviously, and unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter and everything associated with it. JKR does, and she did a fantastic job in creating our favorite Magical World. I only own the idea of this fanfiction.

"normal speech" - _'thoughts'_ \- _"$parseltongue$"_

* * *

 **Blood, Fire, Venom and Tears**

by **Stormchaser17**

* * *

 **3.** **A Difficult Task**

"Promise me!"

The look that Daphne had in her eyes screamed for him to accept whatever she had said in the previous seconds, and her trembling hands were the only thing that betrayed her nervousness in the current situation.

Harry was desperately searching for something to say, for some kind of action that could reassure her new girlfriend that he would have been ok during the first task, but he knew that it would have been like lying to her, and he was not capable of doing it.

"I cannot, Daphne…"

Her grip on him only increased, and nervous tears were running down from his neck, where her face was buried, to his torso.

"I cannot promise you that I will be alright, you know what I have to face."

"And, I will not lie to you."

The blonde-haired girl looked straight into his eyes, to search for any sign of deception, but she found only sincerity and his share of anxiety for the dreadful event.

"However, what I will promise, is that I _will come back_ to you!" He kissed her with all the might he could muster, to transmit his faith in his words.

After a few moments, the two disengaged softly and smiled to each other in a reassuring manner diverting again their eyes, for the nth time, at the half-transformed Quidditch Stadium from the cover of Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

Since the young wizard discovered that his opponent in the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was a dragon he did not hesitate to report this to Daphne and by extension to Tracey and Astoria too. To say that the girls were frightened and worried for him was surely an underestimation of the minutes of mute chaos that the revelation had caused.

But after that, everyone tried to butt in with some ideas, some suggestions, and some plans to try and help Harry in surviving the potentially deadly confrontation with angry and fire-spewing lizards.

Astoria, in particular, revealed herself to be a shrewd thinker, incarnating the quintessence of the Slytherin teachings, and managed to obtain very valuable information on dragonkin behaviour, reactions to territorial invasions (since they assumed that the main response in a similar situation would have been something akin to that one), and finally general information about their different species.

Unfortunately, all of this did not create a sound strategy to ultimately defeat them or to do something to complete the eventual objective of the task.

At least, until Tracey heard through the grapevine of Hogwarts' rumor mill (that is, the two Hufflepuff girls that were blabbing about what Cedric was trying to study and how great he was) that the other champions were preparing to _retrieve_ something during the task.

This opened a whole new world of possibilities, and the efforts of the quartet were redirected to mainly study and research incapacitating, distracting or stunning magic, from the simpler spells to something that could be used against the resistant hide which almost all species of dragons had.

On the eve of the First Task of the Tournament, Harry had reached a state that surpassed nervousness, and the only feeling he could recognize was numbness. He prepared to the best of his abilities, tried to think an impossible number of schemes of how the day would go, and consequently, the solutions for these situations, but in the end he knew very well that no plans survived the first contact with the enemy, so he decided to trust in himself, in his magic, and in the support of his new girlfriend and friends.

 _That_ was, maybe, the most important thing in the world for him.

Hedwig, noticing his uneasiness and impossibility to go to sleep, decided to fly to him and, while perched upon his shoulder, tried to convene her message.

"Do you think it will be safe, Hedwig?"

An amused and ironic expression was his reward.

"Yeah, I think I deserved that…" Harry answered with a chuckle, remembering all the times when he decided to go head first into a hazardous situation without thinking of the consequences.

Accepting his owl's suggestion, Harry took the Firebolt from the corner of the room next to the door and went out his little abode in the Chamber of Secrets.

After exploring some of the tunnels that departed from the location itself, they found one which ended in a semi-hidden and spelled iron grate on the rear side of Hogwarts, but with a bit of a stretching, he could go out passing between the mesh.

It was indeed effective for keeping a large basilisk inside, but the holes were almost the right size for a little human, like him. Naturally, Hedwig did not have a problem in doing that and watched his friend with an entertained look.

Grumbling at his smartass owl, Harry climbed on the broom and remembered to cast the concealing spell which had the chance to try while researching for the Task.

Touching Hedwig on her head, he whispered. "Celare".

The effect of the spell was always a sight to see, and way more beautiful than the normal disillusionment one: it reminded him of something that he managed to watch, partially, from the cracks of the door of his 'room under the stairs', where big green ships would appear and disappear gradually into space.

Celare did the same. Within three to five seconds his body gradually disappeared from view, step by step, as if putting up his Invisibility Cloak gradually. Magic was awesome!

Naturally, it was almost useless in a combat situation, unless you wanted to taunt your enemy and maybe induce some loss of concentration, but for now, it was more than enough.

Going up in the air, he could not remain impassive in front of the wonder that Hogwarts was at night, it seemed that millions of little lights danced from its windows, corridors, towers, and courtyards, bathing everything in a soft warm glow, which contrasted with the darkness of the still moonless night.

He could still hear some deep roaring from the Forest, so he imagined that everyone knew about the Task itself, especially the other three Champions. He was sure that their professors were helping them, but he did not care about that. He could have ranted for days regarding this 'injustice', but he knew it would have been useless and only a waste of time in the end. Did they want a fight? The would _have it_!

Harry continued to fly without a fixed destination in mind, sometimes going back towards the high turrets of the castle, and sometimes descending fast towards the Black Lake, with Hedwig always on his side.

The second beauty of the Celare spell was also that if you were touching another being with a hand, he, she or it would stay visible to the caster while remaining unseen to all others. It was perfect for moving around, and he told Daphne and the girls as soon as he could, to facilitate their activities when they wanted to see him or bring something into the Chamber.

He and Hedwig flew and flew, his mind went from totally distressed to mildly relaxed, and he silently thanked his companion with a gesture for giving him the chance of getting some peace and tranquillity before the events of the day after.

Harry did not know how much time they spent outside, but he realized that it could be very late when a waning less-than-half-moon began to rise over the lake, dimly lighting the landscape in a pale whiteish tone.

Hedwig gave a soft hoot and began descending on the remaining of the Quidditch Field while almost facepalming himself for his stupidity. He could have thought about inspecting the 'combat zone' after that time with Daphne, to gain some possible advantages, but with all the studying and the preoccupations clouding his mind, that bit escaped from his sight.

Once landed he thanked again his thoughtful owl for the reminder and started exploring.

The terrain was rocky, with lots of large boulders, optimal for hiding and planning some quick moves. They were, however, very distant from each other, distributed in a completely random fashion, so it was not a guaranteed choice of tactics. What surprised him, instead, was the sheer size of the arena: he and Daphne imagined that it would have been like the old Quidditch one or the muggle soccer ones, but this was easily double that!

Simply walking along one of the edges, the long one, he assumed that it would have been impossible to try and outfly the dragon, too much space in which it could engage his wings and overtake him with raw speed and power. Sure, his broom acceleration was better, but the Dragons were natural-born fliers, he could not hope to escape one of them while in the sky.

A different approach was required, especially if he had to _take_ something from the fiery animal.

He decided to sit down on one of the boulders, around the center of the field and started thinking, speaking to himself. No one would be able to hear his voice, especially that far from the castle.

"The main problem is that the ritual is still incomplete, I need Dragonfire to stabilize it, and for sure I cannot go and ask the dragon to gently provide it for me."

He scratched behind his ear. "So, the first part of the game is playing defensive, if I can manage it, and only after the ritual is over and done, I can do something to complete everything."

Hedwig landed next to him and looked at her owner with a curious air. He did not notice her, immersed as he was in his reasonings.

Another problem was the runestones set that he needed to have around him for the ritual itself. They were not very big, but surely noticeable even cloaked in his pockets.

The only solution he came up to was to leave them on the ground in a known place right now, hoping that if he did not go first against the dragons, they would not be destroyed or moved during the fights.

He took them off his backpack, which now was a constant addition to his person, and decided to hide them near a vaguely pyramidal-shaped boulder. If not wrecked by the dragons, it would have made finding them again easier.

As soon he did that, sleep began to overcome him, and he realized that the late-night outing had its beneficial effect. He felt a bit calmer than before and decided to go back to the Chamber to nap at least for a couple of hours because, in the morning, he would have needed every bit of energy from both his body and his mind.

* * *

The whole school was excited and nervous at the same time. The glorious Tri-Wizard Tournament would start today, and everyone was eager to go and see the performance of the Champions.

Well, the _three_ Champions, since not one of the students, with the exception of Daphne, her sister Astoria and her friend Tracey, had recognized Harry as the fourth. Some of them still had those stupid badges on their robes, at least those who managed to counterspell them to show the idiotic original message.

Harry Potter was not seen at breakfast that day like he was not seen _at all_ since the night of the Champions nominations for the daily meals. Other than that time in the courtyard, when he just showed everyone his determination, he vanished in the shadows of Hogwarts not appearing even for the Weighing of the Wands, done two days before.

Some of the students thought that he would not be allowed to participate since he didn't have a proved regular wand, others thought that since he was in hiding he would not know of the process, and others even thought that he simply fled, as the coward he was.

Of them, only the second group was near to the actual truth. Harry knew about the Weighing, he _was there_ , under his Cloak, but he did not want anyone to see his secondary wand since it would not have been surely accepted and consequently taken away from him.

And confronting an angry dragon would have shifted from the current very very difficult to _bloody impossible_.

For a fraction of a second, he thought that Dumbledore was looking at him, but his expression was conflicted, divided between regret and faith in his actions. Or, at least, it was what Harry deduced.

In the end, the fourth Champion was glad of his absence, since the behavior of the fair-haired and green dressed witch called Rita Skeeter was all but endearing. He resented her for the articles that she already wrote about his supposed cheating, so he did not want to give the slanderous journalist more ammunition against him.

Currently, he was still in the Chamber, with less than one hour and a half to the start of the Tournament and was deciding what to wear. He did not have any magic proofed clothes, nothing against the fire breaths of a dragon, or nothing resistant to impacts and charmed to reduce the effect of hard falls on the terrain.

Again, he cursed himself for poor planning, and with a chuckle was reminded of what Daphne said the week before, about the fact that he would not have lasted in Slytherin for certain things. She was definitely right, but then…

" _That is why I have you know, or, at least, one of your strong points, Daphne."_

 _He said it with such confidence that the blue-eyed witch had to drop her head to hide her wide blush for the compliment. She always took pride in her intelligence, so that was one of the best things he could say to her._

He decided to call another friend… he hoped he was still such.

"Dobby!"

With a _pop_ , the house-elf appeared in all his socks glory. This time it seems that he was using them even as gloves, obviously mismatched ones. And, as usual, he seemed ecstatic when called by him.

"Great Master Harry Potter! What Dobby can be doing for you?!"

The excitement of the little being was palpable, and it always made Harry break a smile.

"Hello, Dobby! I hope that you are all right in Hogwarts this year. Sorry for not being able to come and see you before…"

The little elf did not make him finish the sentence. "Great Harry Potter sir is worried about poor Dobby! Great Harry Potter is the best Master! Lowly Dobby is glad to be of service of such a great mage…"

All this while clinging to one of his legs and bawling his eyes out for the care that Harry always reserved him. He was still concerned about the welfare of his species since, for sure, others like Malfoy were around, but not in the way he heard Tracey rant about some stupid SPEW thing, naturally created by the bookworm.

He tried to regain control of the situation. "Dobby, I need your help, if you can."

"What Great Master Harry Potter do needs?"

"I have to face dragons…" Dobby shuddered at the naming of the beasts. "…and I do not have anything good for the fight in the arena. Can you help me?"

Strangely, Dobby was immediately unsure, and it did not go unnoticed.

"Dobby sees many many things, and he saw things that Harry Potter sir could be use…"

"It is great Dobby! Can you bring them to me?!" Harry was suddenly elated, while still concerned about the behavior of his friend.

"…"

"What is the problem, Dobby?"

"Dobby can be honest with Great Master?"

That _was_ strange for him. "Yes Dobby, you can tell me everything." He crouched down, reaching to his level.

"Dobby seen some clothes, different from usual Hoggywarts clothes, on Harry Potter sir bed! But! He watched professor whiskers putting them, so Dobby do not knows if…"

Harry immediately understood the plight of the elf. He evidently knew what Harry was doing now, and what the others were doing to him, professors included. So, he was reluctant to use something that was put there by them.

He regarded him with a warm smile and answered. "Dobby, bring what you have seen to me, then we will worry about the rest."

The elf immediately complied, disappearing and reappearing in less than a second. He _absolutely_ had to learn how to apparate, it was such a big minus to not know the thing.

The clothes were literally great. It was a uniform with all the colors of Hogwarts on its shoulder pads: divided into four squares he could see the Slytherin emerald green (which reminded him of Daphne), the Ravenclaw royal blue, the Hufflepuff golden yellow, and the Gryffindor fiery red.

He frowned a bit at the last one, their actions still fresh in his mind, but it lasted only an instant. The rest of the dress was black, with the big coat-of-arms of Hogwarts embroidered in the back, complete with all the Houses animals and the school motto. A smaller one was on where his left breast would have been.

Overall, he would have had a great appearance once inside the stadium, and he liked it. He was unsure, however, on if he was to accept the gift from the same professors that had not considered him at all during the eventful evening with the Goblet, or in the courtyard.

Dobby decided to speak again, after moving the clothes on a nearby chair. Harry had not still touched them, for fear of something like a portkey or a curse.

"Dobby has also seen this near the clothes, Great Harry Potter…"

It was a piece of rolled parchment. Some sort of message perhaps?

Bringing his wand out of his sleeve, he cast a number of detection spells, to see if something untoward was on it, but the results were all clear. He did the same for the clothes, which gave, again, a perfect clear green color, meaning that nothing malicious was on them.

"Thank you very much, Dobby! You have aided me greatly. I will remember to spend some time with you after the task."

The little elf was so overwhelmed by his words that he managed only to embrace him again on his leg, before disappearing with mutterings about how lucky he was to have met Harry Potter.

Harry smiled at his antics and decided to read the letter before dressing and going to the stadium.

" _Mr. Potter,_

 _Harry,_

 _I do not think that words will ever manage to convey my feelings about this matter. I have failed you, we all have failed you, and we know that forgiveness could be out of our reach by the time you will be reading this missive._

 _I think that in all my hubris and vast knowledge, that I forgot what it means to be a young boy, and at the same time, a man in the middle of a storm._

 _I am sure you now know of my relationship with Grindelwald, and the battles we have fought against each other since we were young. When all ended, I was in your place, albeit older than you, but with every eye in the Wizarding World pointed to me, on my actions, on what I would do._

 _It was maddening, it was mind-wrecking, it was impossible at times._

 _And now, thinking I would do a favor, to you, I relegated a young boy to something I did not wish to confront myself. For that, even if it seems useless, I am sorry. We are all sorry._

 _It is late to say it, but nonetheless, it must be said._

 _The clothes you have found next to this letter were the best we could produce within the terms of the Tournaments, and maybe a little better than the ones the others have in terms of protections._

 _Please, do not wear them for us, do not wear them thinking that we are buying your forgiveness, but wear them for you and yourself only._

 _The only request we have is that you make Hogwarts proud. Not for the professors, not for the students, but for what the School represents. You already have, in the past years, and for the little Lovegood._

 _Maybe this is asking too much from you, from a Harry Potter which has been denied everything in his life and put into peril for the sake of others. But we hope you will consider it._

 _With regret,_

 _The Headmaster, The Professors of Hogwarts"_

Harry did not know how many minutes he spent simply staring into nothingness, while his brain was trying to get a grip on what he had read. His first reaction was to smile at the mention of Luna, though.

They were great words, almost inspirational, but he managed to see the hidden meaning: they wanted him to remain at Hogwarts, for whatever objective he did not know, but to be seen wearing that uniform would send a message to everyone.

That, above everything that had happened, he was still a Hogwarts student, with all the plus and the minus of the fact.

He did not know if it was the correct course of action to follow. A part of him wanted no more than tear into them, exposing them for all the things they had done, and leave wrecks in his stride. Another, a more compassionate one, was telling him to forgive and forget, but it was not a viable option at all. Too much had happened to continue on that route.

He _knew_ that the right thing to do was the last one, but he would not do it. The only _sure_ thing was that he wanted to _stay_ at Hogwarts for his final years, he loved the School, and it was always better than home.

 _'When I am not in mortal peril, naturally…'_ He thought, giving himself a self-deprecating chuckle.

He had to earn every single little thing since he was a toddler, by his sweat, blood, and tears, and he would be damned if he just gave them a free pass for some clothes and nice planned words. They would have to earn something too, his forgiveness.

But, he would never ever forget. Even if it seemed unfair, tough, everything was unfair for him, and he could not think about every one of them while preoccupied with saving his life from Voldemort.

So, he would meet them in the middle, but no more than that would be conceded.

With this new resolve, added to the one that would see him fine and alive at the end of the story, he slipped on his new combat uniform, and went out of the Chamber, hidden from view, towards the First Task.

He never noticed his name appearing in a golden thread above the Hogwarts' coat. Almost as if the castle itself had recognized him as its champion.

* * *

The stadium was filled to the brim. The reporters' area was overflowing with photographers and journalists, while the different sections for each of the Houses of Hogwarts had been fused together, to create a gigantic stand for every student of the School.

He heard, via Tracey, that Dumbledore did not want to allow any pupil under the third year to attend, but the expectations were too high, and with the concession of bringing their parents there, everyone was present for the First Task. The younger muggleborns, with the half-boods and the purebloods which families could not attend, were near the Prefects, some of the Professors, or their close relative.

Harry was flying on his Firebolt above the stadium, and he saw that nothing had changed from the night before. His runic stones were still there, and while he could feel himself getting more and more nervous, he also managed to steel his determination.

He saw the other champions going towards a tent on the front of the arena, and so decided to appear, while still flying.

"It is Potter!"

"I told you that he had not escaped!"

"I bet that he will not last five minutes with the dragon!"

"The other champions will put him in his place!"

These were only some of the things that every student of Hogwarts was saying to him, but he did not care. Every one of them, bar some, was simply _inconsequential_ to him.

With a huff he directed his broom to the main stand, where the rest of the professors were seated, and stopping just for a minute, thrust a rolled parchment in the hands of McGonagall, silently watching each one of them.

He could understand very well what their thoughts on him were, and the shift that was beginning to happen. But he did not care. He had a mission, destroy Voldemort once and for all. If they were on his side, better, if not, well… their problem.

Harry left and directed himself towards the large tent, having unsuccessfully managed to locate Daphne and the others in the middle of the mayhem. He would try again when it would have been his time to battle.

In the meanwhile, Dumbledore hastily erected a soundproof and distorting barrier, and having opened the wax seal on the parchment, started reading.

" _Professors,_

 _I would like to say that what happened this year was just a one-time thing, but we both know that this is not the reality._

 _I would like to say that everything is again good between us, but again, we both know that our differences would make this a very difficult thing to achieve._

 _I will, however, thank you for the surprising move (even if loaded with hidden meanings) of giving me a high-quality battle robe for today. I will not forget this._

 _In exchange, I want one single thing. The truth. I am tired of risking my life while blind. If I have to do it, since it seems that Voldemort is fixated on me, I want to know why! It is the only thing I require from you._

 _HJP"_

A stunned silence met the ending of the letter. Every instructor was repeating the boy's sentences in their heads.

Filius Flitwick spoke first. "He is right, Albus."

The Headmaster felt on his body every year of his age, and in the depth of his mind and heart, he knew that the little Charm professor was correct. He sighed heavily.

"Do you all concur with Filius on the matter?"

A circle of heads nodded to him, even Snape, albeit reluctantly. He knew more than the others, and the discussion with them and the boy would not be a pleasant one.

He supposed he deserved it, even if he could still not be civil with the Potter brat.

* * *

Harry arrived at the entrance of the tent, disillusioning his broom before entering.

He was welcomed by three angry stares, one distressed one, one eager and one indifferent. It seemed that the three other Champions still had not forgiven him for entering, according to them, illegally, into the Tournament; Ms. Pomfrey was worried, and he tried to send her a reassuring smile, even if his nerves must have transformed that into a half grimace; Crouch and Bagman were there too, the first with a medium sized velvet bag in his hands.

"Harry! Welcome, welcome!" Said an exuberant Bagman. "Just a couple of formalities before the start of the Task!"

He indicated the velvet satchel. "In here there are models on the beasts that you will have to face! Now it is possible to tell you what the task will be…" He made a suspense pause. "… You will have to _retrieve_ a golden egg from a nesting mother dragon!"

If he expected any reaction, unfortunately, he was completely off track. It seemed that Harry's suspicions were correct, and everyone knew about the dragons.

Crouch interrupted the embarrassing silence with a cough. "Now Harry, do you have an available wand?"

Harry was somewhat surprised, but he answered nonetheless. "Yes."

"I am afraid that, since you were not at the Weighing, it is not possible to accept it."

"So, am I disqualified or something?" His temper was rising again, but Harry did not want to create another scene. The others, Cedric in particular, were eager to hear the answer of the Ministry envoy. Their faces easily showed that much.

"No no, absolutely not!" They deflated and started muttering angrily. "But you will not be awarded any points even if you successfully complete the task."

Immediately Cedric's, Viktor's and Fleur's sour faces changed into an expression that meant only one thing. _'Victory!'_

Harry, however, was not concerned about stupid points. He had way more on his plate. "All right, if that is all…" And now, the visages of the other three screamed incredulity and irritation, he could almost laugh at the fast-changing emotion display in such a short amount of time.

"Then! Now you will decide which dragon you will have to face simply by putting your hand in this bag and retrieving a model of it! Afterward, the kind Ms. Pomfrey will scan you to see if your health is not compromised and if you are clean of potions and possible magic enhancements!"

Harry's senses immediately went on full alert. If she scanned and found, the runic array which controlled his system he would have been discovered in seconds, and he was not looking forward to the consequences!

Unfortunately, he could not do anything about that. He resigned himself to deal with it when the time arrived.

"Ladies first then! Miss Delacour, please!"

Fleur, almost hesitantly, put her left hand inside the bag and retrieved what it seemed a golden dragon. "Ah! The Chinese breed! Fast, distracting with its hide color, and highly protective!"

The French girl deflated at the description and went to sit heavily on a nearby chair.

"Mr. Krum! It is your turn!"

Viktor put his hand in with decisiveness etched on his face and set out a red little dragon. "The Swedish one! Highly resistant to flames, more than every other breed, and very territorial!"

The seeker just remained impassive in front of the description of the beast, and the only thing that betrayed his nervousness was the clenching of his hands.

Cedric went after and got a strange and small green dragon. "The Common Welsh breed, a neighbor of the Hebridean Black, even if less vicious. But! Be careful about it, its intelligence is top notch!"

Finally, it was Harry's turn, and when he extracted a blacker than night dragon, he simply blanched. There was no way that those idiots had put…

"The Hungarian Horntail. The greatest dragon currently on this planet! I wish you luck!" And with that, Bagman and Crouch went outside, not before remembering to check the order in which the Champions would go in, etched on the back of every dragon.

"Mine is the third one." Said Cedric, echoed by Viktor with the number "One."

Fleur was second, while Harry would have been the last. _'Naturally!'_ He thought. _'Now I have to wait and hope that the stones will remain intact!'_

Ms. Pomfrey came towards them and explained to them the position -wide shoulders, arms raised and towards the outside, large berth between their legs- they had to put themselves into before she began to cast the detection spells.

The first one, the health checking series, gave the same result as everyone. A faint blue halo enclosed them for a moment, before disappearing.

Harry started to sweat, and the mediwitch must have noticed it because after checking Cedric, she sent him away on a more secluded portion of the tent. She did the same with Fleur and Viktor.

He silently thanked her with his eyes, which showed relief, and after his check went -as he expected- very wrongly, Ms. Pomfrey just raised her eyebrow and looked at him with a clear question in her expression.

Harry knew that that was it, but he was not afraid anymore since she seemed to be on his side. He activated his matrix for two or three seconds, and the only reaction from the medic was an almost comical widening of her eyes, followed by a muted chuckle and a silent promise that when everything would have been finished, they would have a long chat about that.

The boy-who-lived thanked her again, and she went out of the tent. Harry decided then to try and relax as most as he could, following some meditation technique that he had read in the weeks before.

A blast of a cannon, or maybe a blasting curse, signaled the start of the Tournament. The stadium exploded in chaos, with every person shouting his or her lungs out while waiting for the first Champion to arrive.

The order was followed, and Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric went to confront their dragons. Harry stopped listening to the outside noise, and after the third Champion went out, he started accumulating his magic.

He could feel the response by his new wand, and the feeling that it gave out as a renewed proof of accepting his magical core as a source.

When, finally, the fourth detonation was heard, he slowly opened his eyes, got off his meditative position, put the battle robes cloak on, and went out of the tent with steady strides.

His heart was beating a million per minute, he was sweating, and his hands were trembling, but he could _not be_ overwhelmed, _not now_!

The walk from the tent to the entrance of the arena was relatively short, and once inside, he could literally _feel_ every eye of every wizard and witch trained on him, on his every move. But there was another thing out of place…

… _the silence._

It was almost deafening. Even his dragon was strangely quiet. He could hear his blood moving in his veins, his heart pumping, and the way the wind moved in his hairs.

But, all of a sudden, the spectators' voice burst the now fleeting quietness with sneering comments, booing, and some which even tried to throw something at him, just to be intercepted by the mages surveying the pit.

To answer them, Harry sneered at everyone, calming only when his eyes met the worried ones of Daphne, almost hidden in the midst of the crowd.

The world around them disappeared for a single second, and they managed to convey their emotions fully, with a resolute nod from his part, and another one from her.

Taking a deep breath, he turned towards the nesting mother. And his fears were immediately proved right when he saw the features on her head.

"Sonorus." His voice was amplified, managing to reach everyone in the stadium.

"Who the hell had the stupid idea of bringing here a _Horntail Empress_?! Are you all crazy!?"

Most did not know what the difference was between a normal Horntail and an Empress, so they waited for confirmation and explanations, looking at the staff.

But Harry was the one to answer them. He was muttering by himself, but with the Sonorus cast before, everyone was able to hear him. "The dark violet crest which goes from her eyes to her horns, the reddish hue of her eyes, and the fact that it is not a wyvern-like the others, but a full-fledged four-legged dragon… This is an _Empress_!"

Everyone noticed the gigantic 'POP', high in the air, and Harry could immediately feel something closing on him… something that was coming fast. He could also feel the heavy building on magic on his left side.

 _"The Empress… She can use magic!"_

He immediately dived on the ground, avoiding a slash from the claws of the _second_ dragon which almost instantly appeared in the arena, and managed to avoid the _three_ flame streams going out from the female on the other side of the stadium.

Everyone was so shocked that they remained speechless in seeing what they were seeing. The Empress just created two magic circled pentagrams under her wings and combined with the fire which she was spewing from her mouth, she created an inferno in mere _seconds_!

If that was not enough, she had the ability to always be able to recall to her his companion, _The Emperor_ , which could not use magic, but had increased speed and strength. A deadly combination!

Harry had the presence of mind of continuing to move around, avoiding staying still for too long, and trying to evade the horned tail of the Emperor, while his mate continued to attack from the distance. On one side, it would have been easier to achieve is the first objective, but at the same time, almost lethal.

The Empress started to move, making the soil and the rocks tremble for every step she took in his direction, while the male dragon began circling in the air above them, with a watchful eye always trained on him.

' _Well, if it was difficult before, now it is a bloody nightmare!'_ His thoughts were almost echoed from the spectators, which were still in awe and fear at the magic display on the most powerful dragon on Earth.

This included all the professors, who were not expecting the turn of events. McGonagall was white with fear and with tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks, Flitwick seemed calm on the outside, but the expert eye could see what even decades of battle training could not hide, Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, then directed an angry look -which remained unseen- towards the Ministry seats next to them.

He could not intervene. No one could, or Harry would pay the penalty of the Goblet, even if destroyed by himself weeks before. Magic always had a way to work, with or without mediums. This increased his uneasiness, and any guilty feelings he had, they were instantly multiplied.

They had sent the boy to his death. He lowered his head and prayed Magic to save him in some way.

But, he did not need to do that. Since Harry, even if every plan he conceived was in pieces, still did not have in himself to surrender. The boy had a will of the strongest forged iron!

Harry continued to try and dodge every strike made from the male dragon, but when he started to spew fire at him too, the situation became immediately harder.

He could not just escape anymore, _he had to fight!_

Stopping behind a boulder, three from the one where the had hidden the runestones, he tried to regain his bearing, and his breath while, at the same time, unlacing his wand from his right arm.

Harry activated his matrix, leaving the basilisk venom flow from a cut he had made on his hand, and cover every inch of the wand. The magic response was enormous.

A wave of pure cold darkness spread from his location towards, making every witch and wizard cringe when they felt it pass over their bodies, and some of the first and second years were left terrified at the sensation. Not that the higher years were fairing any better.

Harry got up, and moved out from his hidden position, wand in hand.

"What wand is that?"

"How come he is using one now? His got destroyed!"

"What is Potter doing…"

The boy smirked, revealing his enflamed emerald eyes to everyone. The magic was flowing freely through him, and it gave him a complete changed appearance. Like a different player that suddenly came into the scene.

At his mental command, the wand immediately went back to its original form, and everyone stood still… before shouting.

"The Sword of Gryffindor!"

"Why does Potter have it?"

"He killed a basilisk with that Sword in the second year!"

"That is only a story! It is impossible that Potter did it!"

"Shut the hell up! He saved our sister from that monster! Do not dare to say otherwise!"

Harry almost saluted the twins, who immediately jumped in his defense when their dear sister was into the discussion. A shame that it was _too late_ for them to be forgiven. Really.

Slowly, the blackness oozing from the blade was replaced only by what seemed like _veins_ of black liquid substance, silently dropping on a nearby rock.

Harry then stunned everyone again, by cutting his other hand with the sword itself, mixing with his blood, and giving the whole thing a very ominous appearance. Red and black continued to swirl together, mixing, before reaching a perfect balance, while still, thickly, dropping on the terrain.

The green-eyed boy just flicked his hand towards the ground to get some blood off it, and then _everyone_ noticed.

 _The blood was melting the rock!_

"Are you happy now, Dumbledore?!" While everyone was distracted, he accioed the runic stones to his hands, covering them in his blood.

The Headmaster immediately focused on him, and all the magic cameras which were transmitting every angle of the fight on big floating screens went around the boy.

"Do you see the _monster_ I had to become for you!?"

The professors were stunned! Was it possible that the confrontation with the enormous serpent in the Chamber of Secrets changed him into… something else? No one's blood could _melt stone_ , it was an incredible thing! And if it could melt stone, then…

The two dragons finally decided on some attack pattern they wanted to do and sprung immediately into action. The _Empress_ shot flames from under her wings, while the _Emperor_ dived again, fast, towards his objective, preparing to flame him too. Harry did not seem unfazed, this time, and merely took a stance, widening his legs, and waiting for the fire to arrive, head on!

"What is he doing?"

"Is he crazy?"

"Has he finally snapped?"

The suspense was topping and overflowing, the two dragons unleashed their simultaneous attacks and a deluge of fire was incoming fast into him!

Suddenly, Professor Babbling, the runemaster, shouted. "Wait! What is that?"

A runic circle suddenly expanded from under his feet, covering an area of about two square meters, where a multitude of symbols was etched. Some, Hermione in the first place, were immediately on the job, trying to decipher what their possible use could be.

Babbling was talking with her colleagues. "It is some kind of ritualistic circle; the rune disposition is too precise and too mathematically shaped. It cannot be a coincidence."

The arithmancer, Professor Vector, agreed with her. "Yes, there are seven main symbols, etched between the outside boundary and the middle one. He intends to do something with the Dragonfire, it is the only explanation I can imagine."

Even if they were still worried, and ashamed for their not-actions towards the poor boy, the new development had them excited at the prospects of seeing something that maybe they had never had the opportunity to study, or experience.

The fire covered the distance between the dragons and Harry in an instant, but he was ready, and he began chanting….

" _With the Blood of a Mage…_

 _With the Fire of a Dragon…_

 _With the Venom of a Basilisk…_

 _And with the Tears of a Phoenix…"_

The last verse was murmured in a voice so low that no one managed to catch it. But the professors understood what he was doing… and they winced at the thought.

Harry had an abnormal concentration of Basilisk venom in his bloodstream that it would have killed him on the spot. If it was not for Fawkes, crying into the wound, he would have been dead in seconds. But, evidently, even the magical bird could not erase every trace of the venom, and now some of the tears were in his bloodstream too!

They really had failed, and tears tracked down Dumbledore's beardy cheeks, while others were bewildered and confounded at that almost impossible event.

The flames seemed to stop when a dome of azure energies went around Harry, but just for a moment. After that, they were immediately sucked inside the runic array on the ground and mixed together with the other three components of the magic reaction.

Most of the spectators were awaiting something like an explosion, that would have put an end to the magic wonder in front of their eyes, but they were disappointed. Everything disappeared almost silently, with a gentle wind pressing outward from Harry's location inside the arena, lifting a bit of dust on its way.

Then, while turning his head towards his opponents, _Harry Potter opened his eyes!_

The cameras were still on him, and all the people could see the raw _power_ behind those eyes! They were shining as bright green as possible, almost looking otherworldly to some, almost if his magic was _pressing_ to escape, to liberate itself from its flesh container.

Harry took a step forward, then another, then another one. Every step was more intense than the previous one, all of them in direction of the two dragons, that had stopped attacking because of the ritual.

Seeing their prey, or what they assumed as prey, coming forward towards them, made the two dragons spring back in action, charging towards him. The _Emperor_ was in front, with his companion a little bit on the side, covering his back.

Harry was glad that even if really powerful and fast, the two dragons were very _big_ , and that could help him in defeating them. He did not want to kill the two beasts because in the end they were just protecting their progeny, which stupid wizards had put at risk for a stupid Tournament.

He also knew that their hide, and their system, had a bit of resistance towards basilisk venom. Obviously, it would kill them given enough time to act, but in a fast sparring, he could freely use any weapon at his disposal to try and remain alive, at least!

His steps stopped at about twenty meters from the two animals, which were still charging towards him. He slowly, deliberately, lifted the Sword of Gryffindor with his right hand, pointing it at the male dragon, and after turning it on its axis, said.

"Everte Statum!"

The overpowered dueling version of the banishing charm rocketed from the tip of his sword, red light blazing toward his opponent, at the right timing to reach it before he could be able to launch the flames again.

The impact was incredible! With a hard 'BANG' the male beast was sent back, instantly arresting his momentum, and causing it to topple from the sky, hitting the rocky terrain under him. Its moans meant that he had some damage from the combined events, and that had the only cause of enraging him more, followed by the _Empress_.

Harry was still on his fast-concocted plan. He tried to send another banishing charm towards them, but they were able to evade it, and the magic circles under the wings of the mother were preparing to flare again.

"Let's see how _you_ can withstand the flames of a _dragon!_ "

"Accio _Emperor!_ "

That left everyone stunned! It was impossible that anyone could manage to attract an _entire dragon_ towards him! But it was _exactly_ what happened!

The male beast felt itself lose all coordination in flying and pulled towards the little meatbag that was enraging his matriarch. Only to feel the scorching heat of dragonfire on his back, causing him to launch an extremely painful roar into the sky.

Harry tried to capitalize on the moment, and shot forward with a speed-enhancing spell, trying to cover as much space as he could to get himself nearer to his golden egg in the midst of the dragon's nest.

He managed, maybe, to reach the halfway mark, before he was pressed to evade to the left, to avoid the fast strike of the Horntail female spiked tail.

After a short second, the male tail followed too, having regained some equilibrium after Harry's move. And it hit again and again, transforming all the boulders and rocks met by the heavy blows into powder and smaller stones. Harry was forced to continue to move, but now the director was not himself anymore, now the dragons were leading the show.

They were forcing him away from the nest, and at the same time, trying to combine their attack to eliminate him once and for all.

Harry tried again, sending a multitude of spells towards the dragons, but being strong pressed as he was, he did not have much time to think, and thus his results were distracting, at most, for the two beasts.

The circumstances were rapidly evolving, and not a single one of the outcomes seemed rosy for the teenager wizard. The rocky terrain offered no protections at all, and he knew that even if he managed to build something… they would have destroyed it.

Wait a minute…

 _He could use the rocks!_

There were literally hundreds of rocks composing the floor of the stadium and like he did in the courtyard, he could use that.

Jumping away from another blast of flames, Harry pointed the Sword to the ground.

"Wigardium Leviosa!"

The audience was again shocked! Almost half of the rocks, and even some of the boulders, were now floating in the air, waiting for the next command to be imparted. Harry did it silently, and with a forward motion, _all_ of them shot against the dragons!

The male one was the first to be hit by the oncoming projectiles, having put himself in the way of his companion, but since her size was too large compared to his, some of them managed to hit her.

The barrage was unrelenting, Harry pouring the most magic that he could inside the launching spell, to make it reach it maximum effectiveness. The first result happened mere seconds after engaging his plan, with a loud 'SNAP' echoing in the arena, followed by a long and mournful half-enraged howl by the male dragon.

One of his wing joints, after being hit by a boulder, _snapped_ , making it unable to sustain flight anymore.

The _Empress_ was suddenly overcome with fury in seeing her companion injured and combining all her flame breathing capabilities with a powerful flapping of her wings, sent a literal _firestorm_ towards the little wizard, eliciting a surprised gasping from the public surrounding the arena.

The temperature rose immediately to painful and scorching hot levels, and Harry could feel some of his hairs and parts of his clothes beginning to heat up and smoke. If he stayed in the range of the fire for a couple seconds more he would have been roasted on the spot.

He did the only thing that came to mind.

"Aguamenti!"

He drenched himself with as much water as he could in the five seconds he had before the wall of dark fire reached him, while dropping the previous spell and flattening himself as most as he was capable to on the ground, to maybe avoid the majority of the deadly attack.

When the fire reached his position, the temperature _rose, and rose, and it seemed to never stop_ , and he was forced to cry out in pain of having most of his exposed skin literally _burned_ away from his hands and face. He was on the verge of passing out, when the attack finally loosened up, and left him with clearer and colder welcome air to breathe in.

Unfortunately, this distraction gave all the time needed to the dragons to act again. The male, even if it could not fly anymore, was completely able to act as a diversion, and advanced fast towards his position, jaws open, fully intending to eat and crunch the pesky little human in his mouth. Not that Harry could see it.

The high amount of dust lifted by the _Empress_ was a perfect conceal to her movements, and even if he could hear the tumbling of her steps, meaning that her was coming towards him too, he could not discern her precise location, and thus act on it.

He managed, shakily, to get on his feet again, but an orange lightening in the middle of the dust curtains, followed by a loud rumbling, convinced him to move again. Only to see that his right leg was bloody red and scorched by the previous fire.

It seemed that even the magically created clothes were unable to sustain that much dragonfire and heat, and he now knew that he would not evade in time.

However, he tried the same, and only his left side was half burned by the flames. He gave out another painful scream, while the situation was hastily deteriorating, and his probabilities to come out as the winner were thinner and thinner by each passing second.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a loud, guttural, rumbling on his front, and he managed to just avoid the snapping maw of the male dragon for a hair's width! The sudden bout of terror that enveloped him was enough for him to freeze for a second, and for the _Empress_ to act and deliver the fatal blow.

Even if they could not see him well with their eyes, clouded by the dust, they could _hear_ him, they could _smell_ him, and so, positioning her tail straight above him, the dragoness _dropped_ it fast!

Nor Harry, nor the whole audience, ever saw the blow coming.

* * *

Daphne was absolutely on the edge, nervously tapping one of her lithe shoed feet on the wooden stands and nibbling fast on her nails. Her right companion, Tracey, was not that far away from that condition, gripping hard the seat in front of her, which was unoccupied, while on her left, Astoria, was gripping her robes harder and harder, with tears that threatened to fell from her eyes.

As soon as Harry entered the scene and manage to make eye contact with her, most of her fears just dissipated into nothingness, and she allowed herself to smile a little. But, unfortunately, this was only for a short while.

Because, as more time passed, they were replaced by a distinct and uneasy feeling of _dread_ , seeing how the two dragons managed to get the upper hand on the great spells that her boyfriend was hurling them, and when the _firestorm_ happened she could not contain the despair in her voice, as a soft but meaningful sound escaped from her mouth.

She, like no one else, could not tear her eyes away from the show, even if she knew, when she heard the cry of pain, that everything was starting to go awry, and bad.

She resolved in praying Merlin, Morgana, and the whole Magic to be able to help Harry in this ordeal, but even her knew that the only one capable to help him was Harry himself. When the tempest of fire ceased, an unnatural silence fell on the stadium, with every eye -even the magical camera ones- was trying to find the fourteen years old wizard.

The snapping of something, and the dull thud of another something made all their attention move to a spot almost in the center of the arena, when suddenly they saw a spiked tail… with a body _impaled_ to one of its spikes!

Astoria gave a frightful squeal, and buried herself in her sister's body, while Tracey became white as a ghost, and fainted on the spot. Daphne, in an episode of morbid and gruesome curiosity, even if she _knew_ that that body was Harry's, could not detach his eyes from the sight.

All the audience cringed at the sudden impromptu gory vision, most of the first and second years were frightened beyond belief, and the rest of the people attending was completely flabbergasted, surprised, and terrorized that something like that _could have ever happened_.

In the complete silence, the only thing that could be faintly heard was the soft crying of a blonde young maiden, desperate for her love.

* * *

On the other side of the stands, in the professor seats, the situation was not that different. McGonagall was straining the seams of her velvety green dress so much they were almost becoming undone, if not for the charms which were preventing it.

The arithmancer/runemaster duo were still examining still screens of what they had seen before, trying to understand all the implications of what Harry had done in his ritual, before the utter silence 'woke' them from their ruminations, and they lifted their eyes just in time to see the bloody show.

Filius Flitwick, together with Albus Dumbledore, admired what Harry had done to try and attack the dragons, even if the whole scheme did not last. It boded well for the young mage, admitting he would manage to survive the Tournament itself. It was a literal scam that the professors could not help him, or the others for the matter, in any way regarding any magical training.

And from what he was seeing right now, he wanted no more than go down there and show the two dragons how a _professional_ champion would _deal_ with them!

The Headmaster itself was surprised at first, not expecting such prowess from Harry Potter himself, but at the same time, something inside him almost anticipated that the boy would have done something like that. But when he saw too the spiked tail with one of the pointy appendages clearly _going through_ the young wizard, everyone in the stadium felt the crescendo of his magic.

"Albus… we… we have to do something!" Cried Minerva, desperate for that madness -that they had permitted to happen- to end.

Albus gave a shuddering sigh. "As much as it pains for me, we cannot do anything. The magic of the Goblet will _kill_ him if we intervene."

"But _look at him_! He is almost dead! Impaled from a spike!"

"We have to trust in Harry. We have to trust in him and beg and crawl on the ground for his understanding after all this is finished."

The last words were said in a defeated tone. In that moment he was not any of his famous personas, Albus Dumbledore was just Albus, a scared little mage who was still playing with the life of another, and he was losing badly.

Minerva wanted to slap him, but after a split second, the desire was to slap herself, since it was her fault too. Really, what a disgrace of a person, educator, almost-mother was she. The strained gasp of Bathseda returned her attention from the self-deprecating thoughts to the arena… and what she saw froze the blood in her veins.

* * *

Harry Potter did not understand what, or where, the problem was. That was a bad sign.

It happened all in an instant. Before it, he was trying to roll on the ground to avoid the toothy voracious mouth that wanted to eat him. After it, he lost all the sensations in his legs, and then his belly, and then a cold grip encased him.

Trying to look down, he felt as he was being lifted, and suddenly, the sun shone again above the cloud of dust that littered the arena.

That was when he _understood_.

That was when he saw himself _impaled by a spike_ , going all through his torso from his back to his belly. He tried to shout, but the only thing that came out from his mouth was a bloody gurgle, followed by actual blood.

The next sensation he felt, was the one of flying, after, with a disturbing squelch, the spike dislodged from his body and the movement from the tail _flung_ him towards one of the walls.

Which he impacted _hard_.

Sliding down towards the ground and leaving a red trail behind him, he barely noticed that all the dust was disappearing, thrust away by another powerful wing flapping from the _Empress_.

The public, however, did not miss the fact. And everyone could suddenly see the harsh and deadly conditions in which Harry Potter was now.

Without any respect for him, some of them started speaking, telling the vilest things and how much he deserved this to happen. It spread like a wildfire, and suddenly, almost all the people in the stadium was railing against him. The few that thought the opposite were like voices lost in the wind, unable to do anything.

Daphne did not know how in Morgana's name did she manage to not shout Harry's name when she saw him flying away and impact on the wall, not too far away from her seats, but she did. And she did not know how she did not start cursing everyone around her, but she did.

Now she was just hoping, desperately, that something or someone would save him. Tracey and Astoria were doing the same, even if no one of the three was aware of the others at the moment.

A sudden movement in the corner of his eye alerted her, and she saw Luna Lovegood coming and seating next to Astoria, embracing her new friend. They had managed to meet after Harry narrated her story to the three girls. Telling that they were furious was a euphemism, and they quickly bonded with the Ravenclaw witch, especially her little sister.

Luna could see that they were terrorized by the gruesome show, but she _knew_ that Harry Potter would win this test, and tried to convey this sentiment to the others.

The professors saw how far the things had gone with the behavior of the students towards Harry, and most of them were disgusted by it. There would be serious changes on the horizon, for Hogwarts.

The two dragons, seeing that the 'danger' towards their clutch of eggs had passed, retreated to the nest, but they were still wary of everything and everyone around them.

They were the first to notice the magical building up, which was subtle in the beginning. Buta as soon as a bright azure light surrounded Harry's body, all the attention was again on strange ritualistic symbols in front of his torso.

A runic matrix.

An actual, _working_ , runic matrix on a living being!

Babbling and Vector almost squealed like teenagers fangirls at the scene, it was a thing lost in the ages of Magic! No one managed to recreate an effective matrix since… very long time ago!

Harry was manipulating the entire construct that had three different concentric and exploded layers. The first one encircled almost all his chest, from side to side, being the larges and also the thinnest in width. The second one was definitely thicker, and almost overlapped the third one, a full circle encompassed in an heptagram and surrounding a pentagram almost hidden in the midst of other symbols.

The young boy was breathing heavily, wheezing at times, and spitting blood at every movement, but something was happening, so most of the cameras around the arena moved to capture the action.

As soon as the zoomed images were available, everyone stopped talking and started watching, and not before long, every stare transformed from mere curiosity to _total astonishment_!

Harry's wounds were _repairing_ themselves!

The first were the minor ones and the cuts on his arms (almost everything was visible, since his clothes were almost in tatters) and at the same time, the enormous and gaping hole below his ribcage started _closing_ itself!

Harry rotated the middle dial of the runic matrix more towards the left, further increasing the healing process, since he was feeling his consciousness fading rapidly and _that_ was not a thing that he could permit, bar being really _eaten_ this time.

He knew the price that he was paying, but he did not care. He needed to _get up_ again and _fight_ against those bloody dragons. His will to live, anchoring every fiber of his being to this existence plane, was simply astounding, and no one managed to capture it better than Dumbledore, who had seen his share of deaths in the years.

Slowly, but strongly, the wounds were healed, and the hole was reduced to almost nothing, before it disappeared, leaving unblemished skin in its place. If there were muggles around they would have loudly called what happened a Miracle, and from a certain point of view, it was!

Harry started moving again, little by little, and managed to at least get seated again, against the wall. He tried to look up, and after some effort he managed to do it, smiling a bloody smile. This time he was _really close_ to not making it!

He reached into his belt, and from a side pocket got two different vials, glad that the _unbreakable_ charms had lasted and worked well. He threw one potion into the other, making it become a deep and dark violet, and without preamble, downed it entirely.

No one knew the contents of that potion, but the next thing that happened was that his body went from pale rosy to fully red, almost like a superheated iron bar, before expelling a vast amount of steam and going back to the natural tones.

Then, Harry got up. He literally, even after everything that had happened to him, simply, _got up._

He threw the vials on the ground and started walking towards the Sword of Griffyndor, fallen four or five steps away. The dragons were once more on immediate full alert, having seen their opponent rise again from the floor.

The matrix was still well visible, and the two most interested teachers were trying to get as more sketches of it that they could, because they did not know what it was doing, and how Harry got it to work properly. Or even if Harry would permit them to look at it in the future. As soon as he got the Sword in his grip, however, the whole thing disappeared into nothingness, but they had enough material to start studying it and trying to understand its inner workings.

The Headmaster almost gave a smile at the sight and looked at his fellow professors. No one did know precisely what happened -even if he had a hunch- but all of them, with a single exclusion, wore a proud look directed to the little wizard.

Harry Potter overcame the odds once more, and he so hoped that he would describe what he had done. This was what the School stood for, pushing every magical boundary for the better, this was what it was in the past, and this was what he now aimed to be again for the future.

The Headmaster could almost _feel_ the Hearthstone connected to him pulsing with power at these thoughts.

Daphne did not know instead if she wanted to laugh, or to cry, or to do something else, so she just embraced a now conscious again Tracey and her little sister Astoria, together with Luna, hard, as if to never let them go. They reciprocated in full.

For Harry, he was still proved by what happened, but the healing method worked to its finest perfection. The potion also helped a lot, even if he knew that in about one hour or two he would have been almost dead on a bed, probably in the infirmary or in the Chamber.

But, for now, he had two dragons _to battle_!

* * *

Harry recreated the matrix around his right wrist, amazing again everyone at the easiness in how he was doing that and gripped the Sword harder in the same hand.

With a simple thought, the lone dial sharply turned to the full right, and the cold feeling that all the people were able to feel at the beginning of the battle came again, _tenfold_!

His hairs started moving wildly, like immersed in an unseen stream of air, while the blood on the Sword resonated more and more to the magical input provided by the little wizard. It condensed gradually, transforming itself in what looked distinctly like black ichor.

Harry wiped some away with his left hand, and proceeded to smear it between his fingers, as if testing its thickness and concentration, before flicking it towards a boulder.

Which completely _melted_ at the simple touch.

Stifled breathing was the answer of the public, but Harry did not care, not that he did in the first time, but now he had something to complete before the backlash from the healing magic reached him. He started walking again towards the dragons, still unaware that his "Sonorus" was still active.

"Gemino."

The Sword of Gryffindor had a sudden shuddering, before what it seemed like a long-lost twin appeared easily in Harry's left hand.

"Gemino."

Another two swords appeared from nothing, this time floating parallel to his forearms.

"Gemino."

Another two, stacked on the second ones.

Now, _Harry was ready_!

The male dragon, in the meantime, was again advancing towards him, mouth open and the first embers of a fire lit in the back of it, while the _Empress_ was still watching the events, but her positioning betrayed her readiness to attack.

Before that anything could happen, All the copied Swords got in front of Harry Potter, like a tentative pincushion in reverse, ready to strike.

"Depulso!"

And that was what they did. With blinding speed, the white light emerged from the original artifact and hit the five copies, launching them towards the _Emperor_. This time, it was the dragon that had no time to react, and all five embedded themselves in his mouth!

The basilisk venom acted quickly, as Harry expected, and as he remembered happening to him in the Chamber, and the first signs of it were the almost immediate swaying of the beast, first towards the right, then towards, the left, as if it was trying to regain its steadiness on its four limbs.

The _Empress_ immediately understood that something was wrong with her mate, and moved towards him, while remaining at a good distance to try and defend the eggs in her nest. However, Harry did not want to wait for her to try and capitalize on another distraction, or another moment of pause in the attacks, so he moved again, noticing that the male dragon just dropped on the ground, seemingly motionless.

A quick invisible checking charm revealed that it was still alive, although with severe poisoning. But the people around him did not know that.

"He killed the dragon!"

"Harry Potter killed a dragon!"

"I can not believe it, he did it!"

"It is incredible! How did he manage to do it?!"

"Absurd! It is an event for the chronicles!"

In fact, the last one that managed to kill one of the animals by himself, if one went by the English folklore, was Saint George, when he managed to slay the beast Ascalon, a big venom-spewing dragon which was continuously attacking the countryside, even if it was a legend.

But only the magical folks knew that the Four Founders of Hogwarts managed to kill one, albeit reluctantly, just at the beginning of the story of Hogwarts itself. However, they recognized the might of these beasts and wanted to honor them creating the motto of the School, reminding everyone how fiery they were.

The murmuring from the public did not distract Harry from its task. He had to get that egg to be sure that the Magic of the Goblet would not harm him, which he imagined would happen if he failed the Task. The rules were never clear on these points, so for him, it was a 'better to be sure' way of acting.

As soon as the _Empress_ saw her mate collapsing on the ground it gave out a long and enraged growl and launched herself towards the wizard. Unfortunately for her, Harry had imagined this and was prepared to act.

This time he needed far too many copies to manage to even wound the dragoness, mainly due to her sheer size compared to the male. So, since he could not start from a single one, he began to transfigure every decent sized pebble and rock into multiple spears. He was waving the now quarter-sized Sword of Griffyndor like an orchestra director, and more and more spears piled up in front of him. With a deflection spell he erected a rocky wall to protect himself against the second firestorm of the day, and since he had the time to build it, it was way more effective than a single Aguamenti.

When the number was sufficient for Harry, he thrust the wand again in a forward motion, followed by a half circle and then he pointed it sharply upwards. All the lances shot towards the sky, and he was careful to not being hit by the drops of blood that he switched with dust on their surface.

He needed that to pierce the thick and resistant armor of the dragon hide this time while before, instead, the soft tissues of the inside of the _Emperor's_ mouth gave no resistance to penetration.

When all of the lances were high in the air everyone was still asking himself what Harry Potter was hoping to achieve, since their number, even if higher than the one of the Swords, were still too few to beat the enormous body of the dragon.

Their answer arrived in the following seconds when, again, the wizard managed to surprise everyone with his magical prowess, finally free to not hide it anymore.

It was really shameful that sometimes he had to avoid his two 'best friends' because Hermione could not stand the fact that someone could have better results than her, and Ron was simply a useless waste of space, always distracting him. It reminded him of Dudley, but at least Ron was not beating him.

The result, however, with all the conditioning done by the Dursleys, was still the same. He did not want to lose his first friends, so he toned down everything like he did in Elementary school. It was only thanks to Daphne, and in lesser measure to Tracey, that he managed to understand that he did not have to take into account the opinion of anyone when his education and capabilities were questioned. Especially if they were influencing him negatively in his magical growth!

With that resolve, he managed to recover all that he had 'lost' in terms of studying during the third year, thanks to their help, and now, everyone could see the results!

"Gemino Maxima!"

The low number of spears suddenly shifted, shuddered, and then _multiplicated_! In an instant, tens and tens of weapons were suspended above the central part of the stadium, waiting for the command to come down!

The _Empress_ seemed to not pay attention to the arms, zeroing on Harry in a fast move, wanting to beat him to the ground with her tail. But it was too late for any kind of move.

"Oppugno!"

 _All_ the lances shoot down towards the ground and the female dragon. In mere seconds every one of them had impaled it in something. Legs, snout, body, the wings -that were now tattered-, even some in her tail.

The sudden event provoked an impromptu halt in every movement, sending her deviating from her course and smashing into the nearby internal wall.

Harry strode purposely towards its right eye, the one that was still facing him, and the audience pondered on if he would have given the fatal blow to this one too. But, to the surprise of every mage present, he stopped about five meters in front of the massive head of the dragoness, planted hard his sword on the ground and shouted, in Parseltongue.

" _$Sssubmit!$"_

The people did not know what he said to the dragon, but the next thing that they saw passed into history as one of the most incredible events of all times.

The _Empress_ ceased all resistance, dropped herself fully on the ground and adopted a passive position. Even she could feel the powerful venom circulating in her veins and reaching every part of her body.

It was tough to admit it, for the proud dragon, but she _was beaten_! Her only hope was that the human would not kill every single hatchling in her clutch of eggs, it was the ultimate wish of a mother.

Harry could have killed her there, on the spot, but it was not in his intentions. He started to move fast towards the eggs, reaching them this time without problems and managed to find the golden one, that had fallen from the main nest towards the back of it.

When he took it in his hands, another wave of magic dispersed from the golden thing, and he could _feel_ that he had satisfied the conditions of the First Task!

Harry Potter gave out a visible sigh and almost dropped on the ground as the first bout of tiredness hit him hard. But it was not the time, he had still to do something.

In the meanwhile, no one understood who started it, but almost every wizard and witch was cheering and clapping at him! A ripple went through the people seated on the wooden stands, and he could see clearly that, now, most of the audience was appreciating his work against the beasts.

What did he say at the opening feast about that?

Ah, yes.

 _Sheep_!

The whole English wizarding world was composed of spineless _sheep_!

Disgusting.

All of the professors were clapping him too, and he could tell that some of them, Minerva in particular, were crying from the relief.

Harry knew that he had to give _loads and loads_ of explanations, but it would have been on his terms and conditions! No more pushing or pressing around, and he hoped that this demonstration of strength had reached the minds of everyone. Even if he knew that some hotheads would still try something stupid against him.

He looked again at the two dragons, and from what he could see, they were still alive. Reducing the Sword of Gryffindor to a more portable size, he laced it against his forearm, before rotating again the matrix towards the left, fully.

He could feel his body was a bit less fatigued now but, more importantly, he could feel the blood on the weapons answering to these commands. With a movement of his arm banished the spears and the swords into nothingness, and pushed more magic into the runic array, forcing the healing process to speed up as most as he could.

When he got in front of the _Empress_ , he estimated that her wounds were almost all gone, and the venom in her body following shortly, such was the power of the Phoenix Tears. The ritual had worked to perfection, giving him absolute control on the mixing of elements in his bloodstream, and thus, on his surviving chances.

Harry continued moving forward, limping a bit, with the egg still clutched in his hands, when he was alerted from a movement coming from behind.

The _Emperor_ was the first to get on its legs again, and moved slowly towards her mate, brushing his snout with hers in what seemed a caring manner. A single eye contact from her brought him to give his attention to the eggs, and in what Harry could feel was a _good_ -growling, confirmed that every one of the little dragons was completely safe.

The wizard was almost at the entrance of the exit tunnel when all the stadium was left without words once more.

The whole magic world, that day, remembered that two Horntails, an _Empress_ and an _Emperor_ , _bowed_ to Harry Potter in thanks of not killing them and not harming their children.

His only answer was a humble bow of his own, and a smile on his face.

* * *

"Albus, I can not believe what I have seen today!"

The expression on McGonagall's face was mirrored by almost everyone in the professors stand, and Albus could not feel more _proud_ of Harry Potter than he ever felt.

"Dear Minerva, I can. If only we trusted him more, maybe everything could have already been solved."

"He was truly like his grandparents here! I remembered the viciousness of Dorea when he attacked the dragoness, and her cunning emerging in managing to create that matrix and doing it by himself, leaving everyone unaware of it!" The little professor Flitwick wanted to add his comment.

Snape, for the first time in his life, could not understand what he was feeling. He _knew_ that he _condemned_ the Potters to their fate, he _knew_ that for his shortsightedness their son was _paying_ the price every day. And the feelings that he _still_ had for Lily, in his heart, were difficult to manage after seeing what her child had been capable of.

Since no points would be awarded to him, the people started going away from the stadium, still shocked of the show that Harry Potter managed to create and murmuring among themselves on the magic involved.

His ex-friends in his ex-house, a redhead, in particular, were still going around on dark magic and other absurd things. A shame that no one of them _ever_ tasted _what_ dark magic _was_.

On the other side of the spectrum, Tracey's words summarized the situation perfectly.

"Daph…" she turned towards her, the four still trembling from the adrenaline. "…you really got the best boy that we have ever seen."

Astoria and Luna were fast in nodding their accord to that, and Daphne could only smile bashfully, answering her long-time friend with an almost silent "I know."

* * *

Harry managed to walk for almost the entirety of the tunnel before he heard someone approaching fast towards him.

He really hoped that no one from his old House was there to try and beg for forgiveness, not that he would have given it to them, but he was _tired_ , and he did not want to deal with any of them. Relief appeared immediately on his face when he saw Poppy Pomfrey making her way in his direction.

"Really Mr. Potter?! What in Merlin's hell managed you to convince yourself that using a never-heard-before runic matrix was the best course of action?"

Harry smiled because even if her words were hard, her tone and her fussing movements betrayed her preoccupation with his health conditions after the fight. He could feel the weariness increasing for every minute that passed, and if the dragons had put up more steam into the combat, he was not sure that he would have won against them.

With the mediwitch's help, he managed to reach the medical tent, not caring about anything else than trying to recover his energies.

The other champions were in there too, and now Harry could see their states. Cedric had a gash from his upper shoulder to his lower abdomen and was now probably on skelegrow and other concoctions to help speed up his recovery. He was the only one unconscious.

Viktor looked at him with different eyes. No more disdain or superiority, but almost… acceptance of what he had done and that he could not have replicated his actions in any way. Harry simply stared back, since he was not the one that had to make reparations for _certain_ things.

Fleur, instead, was fidgety, and she was limping too on her leg, having lots of gauze around her head, with many burns visible on her skin. Maybe her dragon fight had been harder than the others?

When he came in she was seated but managed to get up and approach the green-eyed wizard. Harry did not know how to feel about her, she was attractive, obviously, but he had Daphne, and he was not a two-timing bastard or anything near to that.

He hoped to connect with Fleur after he heard about her being a Veela, maybe being friends with each other. Mainly because of their 'roles' in the society, both isolated and bot put onto pedestals just to be brought down in shame the next instant. Unfortunately, however, her behavior was horrid, to tell the truth.

The fair-haired Veela stopped a couple of steps in front of him, and bowed, asking at the same time for forgiveness in a subdued and soft tone. Harry really wanted to tear into her but he understood that she had learned her lesson.

"You know, Miss Delacour…" She looked at him, focusing on his eyes. "…in another world, in another life, maybe we could have been friends due to our common growing-up conditions."

She sighed, knowing that he was right. No more words were exchanged, and she knew that every chance with the wizard was now shot to hell. Her Veela magic almost resonated with his one during the battle, but the opportunity passed, and it would never come back again.

Harry did not give her a second look, and went to his bed, almost crashing on it.

He was out in seconds.

* * *

"I still remember that day Harry, it was the one of the most frightful events that I had to ever see with my eyes!"

Daphne and Harry were still telling their story to the two children, but they had fallen asleep almost in the middle of the tale this time, so the couple just remained in front of the fireplace, cuddling each other and reminiscing on that particular day.

It was good in the end, because if not, the whole 'gory' part, like others, had to be obviously and accurately omitted from the tale. It was an easy thing to do, but Charlus and Lily were very perceptive for their young age, and since the first time in hearing it, they could understand that there was something hidden that their parents were not telling them.

"I remember what happened after, it was a blessing and a nightmare at the same time, even if it put you in danger. If something bad befell you because of me…" He squeezed her strongly, to show his appreciation of having her in his life.

Daphne responded in kind, grasping his hands and at the same time, she smiled. Harry always put someone -her since they came to be together- in front of every possible thought in his mind. It was one of his most endearing and appreciated traits.

The blue-eyed witch, in that moment, remembered Tracey's words.

She thought, before entering Morpheus' realm in the arms of her husband. 'I really got the best one ever.'

* * *

 **Chapter Released on 06/05/18**

This concludes the third chapter of this fanfiction, a massive 14k words excluding the two AN at the beginning and the end of it.

As stated, the story will cover all the Goblet of Fire book (and movie), mixing elements from both. I hope that the next parts will be as long as this one and that I will be able to maintain a good update schedule. I'm sure that many of you may have questions on what really happened with Harry's runic matrix and so on, but rest assured, the next chapters will slowly unravel the mistery.

I hope that you liked it! Don't forget to leave a Review!

See ya at the next one! Ciao!


	4. A Bad Surprise

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the fourth chapter of my first story for the Harry Potter section!

Firstly, thank you again, everyone, for all the support, the favs, follows and obviously, the reviews! I never imagined reaching almost 800 favs, over 1000 follows and more than ten C2s! They have been totally helpful, and I hope that I managed to answer every one of you and not forget anyone. If so, I'm sorry, but know that your time in writing one for my story is super-appreciated!

Secondly, but not less important, well, it's not almost a year like last time, but I definitely hope that I can manage to shorten my schedule a bit for the next chapters, with the next one being around the half-way mark in the whole story. There is also a request for you all at the end of the chapter, please read it!

I hope my English will be good enough for you international readers. Also, I do not know a lot of British English expressions, so please bear with me for that. Rating is M for some swearing and future possible intense scenes. In this AU some characters will be OOC, and there will be bashing around. The pairing is Harry/Daphne, my absolute favorite, with a Powerful!Independent!Harry on the stage. Get ready for another _"above orbit over the top"_ Harry Potter!

Please Read&Review!

I would like to dedicate this fic to the awesome writer _Dorothea Greengrass_. Her Harry/Daphne stories are simply great, so go and read them!

DISCLAIMER: I obviously, and unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter and everything associated with it. JKR does, and she did a fantastic job of creating our favorite Magical World. I only own the idea of this fanfiction.

"normal speech" - _'thoughts'_ \- _"$parseltongue$"_

* * *

 **Blood, Fire, Venom and Tears**

by **Stormchaser17**

* * *

 **4.** **A Bad Surprise**

The first things that Harry could feel were the animated whispers of people around him. Immediately after that, the usual Medical Ward clean odor pervaded his nostrils and a well-known groan escaped his lips.

He was, again, in the clutches of the Mistress of Medicine, Ms. Pomfrey. He _so_ wanted to avoid it this time, but apparently, after his passing out in the tent no one of his friends managed to bring him back to some hidden place since the Chamber would be useless without him speaking the password in Parseltongue.

Opening his eyes was a fatal error, because the light of the day burned instantly in his retinas, forcing him to shut them close again, and take cover under the thick blanket.

Unfortunately, his movements alerted the group of professors next to his bed that halted what they were doing to look at him. If he could have seen them at that time, the scene in front of his glasses would have been almost incredible, for some: in the far corner of the room, protected by fumes and ingredients wards, was Severus Snape, heatedly writing something on a board, and analysing the violet potion that he had used in the Task.

Around a table next to that position, Professors Vector, Babbling, and Flitwick were discussing the fragments, bits and pieces of the ritual that he used, together with the runic matrix that apparently managed to help him regulate his blood in some kind of way.

In the opposite corner, huddled together, Minerva McGonagall was furiously gesticulating towards Bagman and Crouch, angrily shouting at them behind what was almost surely a soundproof bubble, while Dumbledore was massaging his temples in a vain tentative of making the already big and pounding headache go away.

Professors Sinistra and Hooch were instead drinking what appeared to be tea while making small chat with each other, and looking at him every now and then. Pomona Sprout was with them, while Sybill Trelawney was for the moment out of the room.

Harry managed another groan and felt some people back off from his bed while hearing some fast steps approaching. One of the smells that he felt linger for another moment and then disappear was definitely Daphne's and this brought a smile to his face.

"It is good that you are smiling after your adventure Mr. Potter. You almost scared everyone to death with your stunt in the arena."

Poppy's tone was just a little bit reproachful, but most of it was just born out of worry. "I would not have had anything different, Ms. Pomfrey." He tried to sound funny, but the huff from Tracey and the double snort from Luna and Astoria immediately told him that he failed, hard.

While the mediwitch continued fussing around him, checking his vitals and the progress of his healing after the overpowered pepper-up potion that he took, all the others began approaching his bed, stopping just to not be a big overbearing presence over him.

"How do you feel, Harry?"

This was McGonagall. He did not know precisely _how_ to confront them, but he had to respond to their gesture before the First Task, so he would be civil. At least until someone did not start to antagonize him.

"Like I have been beaten down from two dragons Miss McGonagall."

"Know that your cheek will not save you from everything Mr. Potter, but after all, it may be impossible from you to do otherwise."

"And it is always a joy to talk with you, Professor Snape."

His answer surprised the bat-like potion teacher, and it brought back the twinkling in Dumbledore's eyes. He truly feared that they had pushed him too hard, too far away.

Harry managed to get up on his elbows, and Poppy gave him his glasses, with which he managed to get his good first look at the room. His eyes zeroed immediately on Daphne, who had a beautiful smile on her lips, looking radiant with sparkling eyes.

She did not manage to resist anymore and sending their first intention to keep their relationship hidden straight to hell, ran up from her chair and embraced him strongly while murmuring sweet things in his ear. He reciprocated in full, mirroring her movements perfectly.

Surely, _that_ was _not_ what the whole Hogwarts' Staff was expecting. Having the perfect, prim and proper Miss Greengrass, top marks in almost everything and one of the most talented students of the school together with the scruffy-looking, messy haired, mediocre Boy-who-Lived was a total surprise!

"Miss Greengrass!" Aurora did not want to squeal, she was a pure romantic at heart, and the scene in front of her just appealed to her senses.

Harry and Daphne just looked at each other, chuckled a bit, and said together. "Well…" Their friends just cracked in laughter at the stupid display from the couple.

"No, you can not give us just a _Well…_ Mr. Potter and Miss Greengrass. And do not think that this will be overlooked. There will be no unsavory behavior in the halls!"

Minerva would always be the same, Flitwick was laughing at the scene, feeling happy for his students, and Dumbledore just looked like a cat which had eaten the whole canary.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the face of Severus Snape was a mix of emotions, disgust for crazy Gryffindors always present, but at the same time, a very painful memory of the past coming out from his carefully organized mind, bringing recollections of a fantastic red-haired Lioness with a black-haired Serpent under the shade of a big tree.

Tracey, Astoria, and Luna decided to participate in the big hugging that was going on Harry's bed, and a second later, a mess of limbs and laughing faces joined the wizard for a short while.

After some minutes, Dumbledore could be heard coughing to attract attention, after dismissing the two Tournament officials, and every student disentangled himself from the others, and seated again on one side, with Daphne's hand never leaving Harry's.

"It is a joy to see that you have not suffered lasting damage from your fight Harry. As Ms. Pomfrey already said, you gave us all a scare in more than one occasion."

"It was really close when the Empress impaled me, Headmaster. If the activation sequence of my Matrix had not been shortened as I wanted… well…" He choked up at the thought. To never see his new friends, or even worse, Daphne, again?! _That_ was a horrible thought.

"Yes, I think that everyone can imagine what the result would have been."

Dumbledore made a pause, to organize what he wanted to say, and how to say it. "Again, Harry, I wanted to express…"

"No, professor. What had to be said has already been said, or is there anything else that someone wants to add?"

The Professors shared a glance at each other and nodded resolutely. "No Harry. You are right, what has been done to you in the past, directly or indirectly, will always be a shame for us, and we all know that you will never forget anything about it. But we hope that we can proceed towards a better future, together maybe?"

"Yes, I do not want to do anything else than solve this problem once and for all, Professors."

A collective sigh filled the little Medical Ward, and for the first time, Harry recognized that while the place had the same smell of the Hospital room, he was not in that one at the moment.

Poppy noticed this and answered for him. "Your friends entered the tent after you collapsed and explained the situation to me. In the midst of it, the Headmaster arrived, and they pleaded him to continue to keep you hidden from the others…"

"…not a new thing, unfortunately…" Murmured little Flitwick.

"…and we decided to repurpose one of the unused rooms on the fifth floor, near the Professors conference room, in a small and sterile medical quarter."

Minerva added. "We took some turns, outside our teaching and staff hours to keep an eye on you, and let me tell you, convincing your friend _and your owl_ of leaving you alone at times was impossible."

Her exasperated tone made Harry smile a little, he was sure that Hedwig had been a complete annoyance to whoever wanted her to leave him alone. And he was sure that his friends had been almost as intense.

"Well, I know that you want answers Harry and that you want them fast, but maybe before everything, we could talk about your feats in the Task?"

The black-haired wizard adjusted himself on the bed, in a more comfortable position, never leaving Daphne's hand alone, and asked. "What do you want to know?"

Immediately, the floodgates opened, and every professor started to ask something, just to be overshadowed by the next one in line, creating a mayhem that only Poppy's shout of _Order in the Medical Room!_ Managed to calm down.

Surprisingly, Snape asked first with his ever-present sneer. "How did a dunderhead like you manage to create _this_ version of a Strengthening Solution?" And he shook the vial that he recognized using during the second part of the Task. "It is at least twenty to thirty times more concentrated compared to the normal one, and I refuse to believe that a failure like you in my subject could create such a masterpiece."

While he was trying to reign in his temper, and while Dumbledore managed to give his Potion Professor a scathing look, Tracey became red as a tomato at the mention of a _masterpiece_.

"You are right, Professor. I am horrid in potions." The smile on his face did not manage to restrain the disdain on Severus' face. "Tracey was the one who did it. She is the genius you are looking for."

The poor girl's face immediately took the tones of a nuclear reactor meltdown, she was _so_ nervous after being put onto a pedestal like that, but at the same time, _so_ happy that a Master of Potions like Snape praised her work, and that his best male friend was doing the same.

"Miss Davis?"

"Y… Yes, Professor. I made the potion that was in that vial. It is a combination of two different reagents that when combined together give out that result."

"How did you manage to control the reaction of…" He glanced at his blackboard in the corner to take another look at his notes. "…Salamander Blood in the general mix without a cauldron and a live flame?"

Harry almost whistled from the question. _That_ was technical speech, and with his poor interest in the subject, he felt that he could never keep up to it. Surprisingly, as Tracey had already done with him before handing him the two vials, she managed to explain everything easily to everyone.

"I added the Griffin Claw while the potion was still in the cauldron, like in the normal preparation sequence. After the one day, fifteen hours of simmering, I reduced the fire to one seventh of the required amount and added only a third of the necessary Salamander Blood…"

"But doing it like that would give you an imperfect combination, the potion would fail."

"Yes, but continuing to simmer it for another bout of time of the same length of the first, I managed to reach a lighter turquoise coloration, so I thought that what I wanted to obtain was in reach."

"And, if I may ask, Miss Davis, what did you want to obtain?" The Headmaster's curiosity was overflowing, this was a breakthrough in Potions not seen for many years.

"Well… after Harry told us of the Dragons, we wanted to help him, no matter what he said on doing everything by himself because he did not want to involve us in something that dangerous." She spared a glance at a sheepish-looking Potter. "So, while our little Astoria here, true to a real Slytherin, managed to stealthily collect and sort every information about the behavior of the dragons, and Daphne offered good advice on spells to use, I wanted to help with some kind of potion."

Astoria blushed from the praise and Daphne beamed at the mention, since she was the one to ultimately _convince_ Harry to accept their help, with a _long_ stretch of _alone_ _time_ together. Everyone knew what they had done in the little room on the side of the Chamber of Secrets, and they managed to tease them for days.

"And what did you do after the second simmering?"

"I started adding gradually the remaining second portion of the three, adjusting the fire every time that the potion would start changing density, color, and vapor consistency, and finally, I extracted a part of the potion itself and put it in a _second_ cauldron where I put the remaining third of the Blood. Finally, I used a Linking Charm to connect the two together, so I was able to regulate both at the same time if needed."

The whole Staff was silent, listening to her explanation. It was something never tried before, but that gave out a great result in the end, so no one wanted to miss a single word.

"After that, the problem was how to make the two react together away from a normal cauldron." At this Snape nodded. "And that is why I spent so much time in the library, but I could not find anything useful, unfortunately, and I got back to racking my brain to create a solution."

"It was until Professor Flitwick's lesson on the very first advanced charm of his course that, to use a muggle expression, a lightbulb lit up in my head!"

The poor pureblood professors needed a brief explanation of the saying, while Flitwick immediately remembered that particular lesson. He was teaching the combined Ravenclaw-Slytherin class, using charms to control the proprieties of materials.

"So." The potion professor said. "You managed to find… what?"

Tracey and Harry looked at each other. The exchange was not unnoticed by the assorted professors, but the answer they were looking for was just seconds away.

"I thought that, if the linking charm could be extended, and maybe adapted to the single vials, the potion could be safely stored and moved, even if for a limited amount of time, the duration of the charm itself." The teachers nodded to that, it all depended on how much magic and intent you put into the spell itself, a first-year lesson for all the students.

Tracey shook her head. "A step forward, two steps back, unfortunately."

"What do you mean?" Asked the flying mistress, Hooch.

"Well, the vials were made of glass, and as such, it is impossible to maintain any kind of potion inside them without violently reacting. We needed a standard cauldron."

Snape interrupted the young witch. "That is not entirely correct, but it is seventh year material, so I can excuse you not knowing it, this time." Tracey had blanched a little, hoping that her mistake was not that important, but relaxed immediately after. "The dunderheads that will manage to reach the second NEWT year -so not you, Potter- will learn that some potions have to be so well prepared and simmered that only a cauldron made of pure crystal can help the whole process."

Harry almost scoffed at the barb, but he knew that it was a losing game, trying to reason with Snape. He had way more important things to be preoccupied for.

"Wow! I thought that platinum-made cauldrons were at the top, and I heard rumors about diamond ones, but never crystal! And then their…"

"Tracey!" Daphne was fast in reminding her best friend to not go into one of her rants about potions and potionmaking, she could be as bad as Granger in certain instances, too much passion!

The brunette just stopped and flushed, she did not want to be caught like this. "Ah! Sorry professors! Potions is one of the most interesting subjects for me."

Harry gave out a horrified look that earned him a slap behind the head from his girlfriend, a snicker from Astoria, the usual look from Luna and a pointed dark look from Snape. Well, _two_ could play the same game!

While the other professors had amused expressions, the chocolate-eyed girl continued. "However, I was stuck on this for four days, until Harry found a solution for me!" She clapped her hands excitedly.

"What did you do, Harry?" Dumbledore was curious as any of the assembled Staff.

Now that he was on the spot, but it was awkward to talk about a failure that turned out good. "Well… Tracey needed a silver cauldron to prepare the potions, so we thought, what if we had silver vials linked to the cauldrons with the two potions inside?"

"But there are not silver vials available anywhere. I do not think that they have ever been produced." McGonagall looked at Dumbledore and Snape, and they confirmed her assumption.

"Exactly. But, we are in a magic school, where everything is possible with enough power and intent, right?" Rebutted Astoria, with the very same words that she said that time.

"True! So, we tried to research how to create them, but conjuration is…"

"…conjuration is a NEWT level subject. Are you telling me that you managed to conjure it?" The look on the transfiguration professor was a mix of an astonished and a surprised one.

"Not that. I tried and tried, but the only thing I managed to conjure was wood. Always wood no matter how much I put my intent in it!" There was a bit of frustration in Harry's voice.

"Well, I have to commend you nonetheless! Conjuration is extremely difficult, and only a good knowledge of transfiguration combined together with arithmancy, not to talk about the required power, can achieve it."

Harry looked immediately resigned and a bit ashamed. "Care and Divination were not the good third year electives, right?"

"Well, Mr. Potter…" Septima Vector used this opportunity to insert herself into the discussion, together with her friend Bathseda.

"...yes, they are good subjects if you have the _gift_ of divination, and if you want to pursue a magizoologist career, but otherwise…" The rune expert left the sentence at that point, her meaning clear for everyone.

"See Harry? It is like I said to you last year, but nooo… you had to go and take those!" A harrumphed Daphne, almost pouting, was too cute for Harry to resist and not to embrace her again.

"I am sorry Daphne, but last year I was still _with them_." The final words were said with absolute venom. He was disgusted by himself for allowing to be pushed around by his two ex-friends.

"What happened?" Dumbledore, like the others, was curious about the enormous rift that opened between him and his friends. It worried him because it would have meant that for the young wizard friendships were not so important anymore.

Luckily the old/new ones that he was cultivating seemed as strong as the previous ones, but the interest remained.

"Ron has practically no interest in any kind of studying, and truly I think that the only reason that he is passing the courses is because Hermione _forces_ us to give her our essays to be _corrected_."

"What?!"

The enraged and surprised shout of Minerva would have been heard at least from half of the castle, if not for the silencing spells around the room. And the pointed glare that she gave him it was a clear request for more details.

"It started after Christmas, or Yule, first year." Some of the people were glad that he remembered the old and more traditional festivity. "You know that before the incident with the troll… well, we were not friends at all. And to tell you the truth, I _did_ find her behavior a little _grating_ , but for sure at no level to tell her something bad like Ron did at the time."

A series of nods confirmed that the professors already knew this, so he continued.

"After coming back from the holidays, she started asking, no _requesting_ , that we had to give her our assignments because _if not, we could only guess how far we could go without her_!" He fisted his hands and Daphne, while furious for the situation, reversed the hug, and encircled him with her arms, to try and soothe him.

The situation did not go unnoticed, obviously, and the adults in the room were reminded again that the two seemed to be together for good. Some of them smiled, it was definitely about time that Harry had something really positive happening to him, and this relationship with Daphne maybe was truly what he needed to overcome everything that was happening to him.

A beacon of light in stormy waters, as they say.

"Three years ago… I was not in a good place regarding friend relationships, _courtesy_ of the Dursley's." A look towards Dumbledore, the Headmaster immediately appeared ashamed of a situation that he created. "And, I am sure you all know, she can be so _oppressing_ and _pushy_ that in the end, we relented just to make her _shut up_!"

He exhaled slowly, his frayed nerves calming a little bit. "It was only after meeting Daphne and Tracey -which beamed at the memory- during the second year that I started to notice what was going on, and I tried distancing myself."

The deprecatory chuckle that he gave out told everyone the truth. "But in the end, I did not do it. They were my _only_ friends at the time, and the thought of being left _alone_ …" His body shuddered as he recalled his times in isolation in the cupboard. Tears started to moisten his eyes, so Daphne started talking for him, adjusting herself to be able to face the professors without leaving his side.

"Do you know that she _stole_ his broom during the third year? As soon as he left it in his room unattended she went and took it to bring it to professor McGonagall with her pathetic excuse."

Minerva was appalled, that was not what Miss Granger said at the time! " _What_ do you mean? Miss Granger told me that Harry wanted to be sure that…"

"Sorry for the interruption madam, but Harry did not know of the stolen broom until you came and confronted him on the matter. Now, we could even understand the fact that she was, maybe, worried of some foul play put in place by Sirius Black, but that was no _way_ to behave herself."

Tracey picked up. "And after that, do you _know_ how they treated him inside Gryffindor, especially those harpies of the Quidditch Team? For _losing_ what they thought was _their_ precious broom!"

Now the Transiguration professor was really embarrassed, and the looks that the others were giving her did not help her situation at all.

"And obviously, as soon as he got it back from you, he immediately was back in the graces of everyone, especially because he _knows_ to use it, not like that pathetic Malfoy!" The brunette ended her rant with a huff.

"While I can find the misadventures of Mr. Potter amusing, we are straying from the main topic." The cold voice of Severus Snape snapped everyone from their funk and, McGonagall first, just reminded Harry that if he wanted, she would be available to talk, to _really_ talk with him. Harry thanked her with a half-smile and got back on track.

"After a while, we stopped trying to conjure silver and tried to transfigure the glass into the material." He gave an embarrassed laugh. "We should have done that from the beginning, but then we met a new problem."

"Yes, after the charms needed for the potion were applied to it, it always reverted to glass, and we were unable to discover why in the short time we had available." Tracey supplied.

"So, we… let's say we _forced_ the matter." Concluded Harry with a little smirk. The professors were interested and got a vial for a practical demonstration.

Harry managed to change it _wandlessly_ , surprising everyone again, but as they stated, as soon as Tracey applied the charms, it went back to being made of glass.

This was a strange new thing, and immediately Snape, Flitwick, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Bathseda and Vector started discussing the possible magic interactions in a potions, transfiguration, charms, runes and arithmancy fast brainstorming session.

The linking charm to the cauldron was deemed responsible at a first glance, and the interference of the potion itself could have destabilized the magic keeping the original glass vial silver. Vector asked then. "Then, what do you mean when you say that you forced it?"

Every teenager looked embarrassed at that, but Tracey answered for them, being the one who suggested the thing at the time. "Harry continued to apply the transfiguration while I was applying the charms, and while Daphne moved the potion inside the vials."

That simple yet complex solution left everyone stunned. It was never heard of before, mainly because potionmaking was the domain of a single master, and all the new discoveries were made by a single person, not groups of wizards and witches interested into some kind of collaboration.

"I had the time to recreate the potion with the same equipment you used after we found your little laboratory, miss Davis. Could you do a test for us?"

Tracey, expertly -since she did it more than she would care to remember- moved everything to recreate their successful procedure. The ward to disperse the fumes of the potions was extended until it encompassed Harry's bed after Poppy deemed that there would not be consequences deriving from potion exposition, so that he could do everything without moving. His muscles were still sore, now more from the fact that he did not move them for many days than from the injuries and the strain of the Task itself.

Everything went as the young girls and boy said, and the transfiguration held as long as Harry put some power into it. It was easy to imagine that using his newly acquired capacity thanks to the Goblet, he could override every spell basic control, creating that interesting conundrum.

Strangely, the most excited one was the potions professor, which looked at this with a certain unusual light in his eyes.

"A final question, Miss Davis? Why do all this for a Strengthening Solution, albeit a more powerful one? A Stasis Charm would have been more than enough to preserve a normal one for later use."

Tracey was prompt in her answer to her Head of House. "Because the vial with this new potent concentration that I have obtained would violently explode every time if we put the potion in it after the end of the simmering. While, instead, combining the two and drinking the result in less than thirty seconds solved the problem."

 _That_ was not what the professor was expecting. Was it possible that the new potion was so strong to create such a reaction? Dumbledore built a containment ward and tried the experiment. As soon as another vial transfigured by the resident cat animagus was filled up a third with the solution, it exploded with an almost deafening bang, while the vial was simply _vaporized_ by the blast.

"Do you all understand the implication of this?"

"What do you mean, Severus?"

"This Strengthening Solution is so concentrated that I think that if I tried to replicate it in a single cauldron it would meet the same fate of the vial! It is so concentrated that if the process could be replicated with other potions we could achieve…"

Madam Pomfrey completed it for him. "…bone-knitting done in half of the time, blood replenishers that would work almost instantly instead of taking hours, skelegrows that could be used on the field instead of in a controlled environment like a Medical Ward…"

"Exactly, the possibilities are virtually endless, as soon as we can understand every step that is behind Miss Davis reasoning."

Tracey, like all the others, was shocked at the reasoning expressed by two of her professors. She never thought that a simple want to help Harry in overcoming his trials would transform into something so great.

Only then she noticed Snape observing her pointedly. "Miss Davis, know that I will offer you this opportunity only for a single time and that I do not make it lightly."

Her nervousness was increasing more and more. What was the issue?

"If you manage to maintain your actual course, with the current marks, while adding some extra materials to work with that I will provide to you in the next three years, I will be proposing you for a Master in Potions qualification after your NEWTs."

Of _all_ things that she could envision, _never_ , in a million years, she imagined being offered the highest certification regarding potions in the world! And sponsored by Severus Snape no less!

She felt faint all of a sudden and had to steady herself on the bed, while Daphne was ecstatic for the opportunity given to her dearest friend, and Harry just looked between his worst fan and his friend with an expression of wonder.

The two girls ran to embrace her, while Luna gave her usual happy smile and Harry gripped one of her hands. "Congratulations Tracey! This is fantastic!"

After a couple of minutes, the excitement died down and the brunette gave her answer to the professor. "Y-yes Professor Snape. I would be honored by doing this."

Severus nodded once. "I will require absolute perfection, Miss Davis. Do not disappoint me like some others." He looked again at Harry.

Daphne was starting to become incensed with this kind of treatment, but a glance from his boyfriend silenced all thoughts on the matter.

"I am more than capable of doing something else better than potions, professor." He was sorry to ruin the atmosphere, but now he felt the need of having some of _his_ questions answered, even if the other professors were waiting to hear about his runic matrix. His expression gave out that.

Dumbledore took the stage again and asked everyone to give him, and Harry, some moments alone. There would be time to explain how his ritual was connected to the venom and the tears in his bloodstream, and more importantly, he noticed the little signs that while the boy wanted to continue, the more pressing matter was eroding his patience.

* * *

The Headmaster erected a soundproof barrier around Harry's bed, and the boy crooked an eyebrow at that. Would it mean that the old wizard had finally decided to come clean and explain everything to him?

"Harry."

"Headmaster."

The two stood in front of each other for what seemed a long time, but mere seconds passed in reality. Then the supreme Mugwump started talking.

"After we will have finished this conversation, maybe you will be able to understand my behavior in the past years, and why, after your misadventure with Professor Quirrell, I told you that you were not ready to hear the real motives behind Voldemort's attack on you and your family."

Harry nodded at that. He remembered vividly what happened in front of the Mirror of Erised and the literal flood of questions that his mind created after his first encounter with the Dark Lord.

"I still think you are too young to know the truth, but now, I realize that by omitting the truth itself I allowed worse things to come upon you."

"If I may ask, Headmaster, what caused this… change?" Asked a curious Harry. Until before the first task the behavior of the head of the school -and of the professors- was completely different from what he could see now.

What caused the shift?

"Well… I could say that I recognized, together with the other teachers, that it was the time that something changed in Hogwarts. That it was time to let some things of the past go to look forward."

At Harry's not trusting look he gave a chuckle.

"I could… but that would make me and this institution complete hypocrites."

Harry was surprised by that admission. He always thought that the Headmaster saw himself as perfect, a person who could not do any wrong at all, and whose work was dedicated to the betterment of the community.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by another chuckle by the older wizard. "I can almost see what you are thinking Harry, and trust me, probably most of it will be true."

"To tell you the truth, it was your letter that gave us, as the muggles, use to say, a good kick in the back."

Harry blushed a bit, he remembered very well how incensed he was after seeing Luna's conditions, and the consequent venting in the howler.

"While, probably, the wording could have been better, it was what we needed, Harry." Dumbledore made a little pause. "We found young Miss Lovegood the next day while being comforted by your friends, and together we managed to fill a picture of what was going wrong with this school."

"I am sure that the others will tell you everything in the next hours, or days, but to make it short, we decided that our behavior had been, in many occasions, wrong. And the students suffered from it."

Harry agreed. It would have been good to have some kind of better support in his first three years, instead of just obscure warnings and half-truths told just when the situation required them.

"So, Miss Lovegood was the starting point. And we are planning to do a lot more in the next months and years, to be able to give every single pupil the education they deserve."

The Headmaster coughed a bit, and Harry looked amazed that a single howler could have generated so much change. "Going back to our original discussion, Harry, you have to know that after the everything of the war against Grindelwald, but most importantly, after the First Wizarding War, I found myself disillusioned with all the Magic politics and anything connected to that." Harry watched him with wide eyes. "Yes, for a short time all I wanted to do was to go and retire somewhere, to study and explore the deepest secret of Magic, and maybe discover something myself as my older master did."

At the inquisitive look from the younger wizard, he answered with a simple "The Philosopher's Stone."

Harry nodded again, remembering the story, which he still found a little sad, about the Flamels and their destiny after their precious artifact had been destroyed.

"Unfortunately, and here I want to involve you personally, the worst roles are imposed upon us by something bigger than each one of the witches and wizards of the entire world."

"So… you are saying that I have to blame… Fate, or something, for what happened to me?"

"Maybe, maybe not… but I am sure that you are one of the people who does not fully believe in Fate."

"Well, if what we could see in Professor Trelawney's class was something, then, no, I think that there is _something_ more out there, but not that kind of thing we can see in Divination."

"Exactly! A most insightful answer, Harry! I would award points to your house if what happened at the feast did not come to pass." He paused a bit. "However, it is a good coincidence that you nominated our Professor in that subject, because… she was what started everything." The Headmaster concluded with a deep sigh.

Harry's expression immediately turned dark, but he managed to reign in his temper. After the first haze of rage passed, he started thinking more, and for what could rationalize with the little information he had, it was impossible that Trelawney was a Death Eater on the payroll of Voldemort…

Then, it hit him. And Dumbledore realized that too.

 _She made a prophecy_!

A _damn_ prophecy!

 _That_ was what condemned his parents to die, and many other good men and women to meet the same end at the ending of the war. And his life _to be shot to hell_!

"From what I can see, Harry, you have reached the correct conclusion." Dumbledore seated himself on a chair he conjured. "During her interview to apply for a position here at Hogwarts she suddenly started speaking in an otherworldly tone of voice, typical of _seers_ while they are giving prophecies, and unfortunately, one of Voldemort's men was there to hear the first lines of it."

Now Harry understood in full what Luna had done when he met her for the first time days before. Or was it weeks? He realized only now that he did not know the time or the date. However, his brain immediately classified that information as irrelevant at the moment, so he concentrated again on the prophecy.

"Again, you are correct Harry. Miss Lovegood seems to have similar capacities, even if the team we recruited to understand what she could _see_ was definitely baffled by her behavior."

Harry smiled at the thought. Luna had definitely some _quirks_ , but that did not mean anything in the end. She was special in her own way. He addressed another point, however. "Headmaster, it is uncanny how you can understand what I am thinking without reading my… you are not reading my mind, right?!"

He was immediately suspicious of that. If he learned something about Magic, is that _anything_ could be possible, given time to study and practice it.

"While I admit that there are branches of Magic which would enable the user to get in someone else's mind, no, I am not reading your thoughts."

Harry was startled at the sudden confirmation of his hypothesis and Dumbledore was again reassured that the wizard in front of him had _potential_.

"Let's… let's go back to the prophecy. What does it say?"

The Headmaster gave out another deep and loud sigh as if he was still debating if to reveal the full truth to him. Then, he spoke.

" _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..._

 _born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..._

 _and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not..._

 _and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..._

 _the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_

Harry remained speechless while the sentences repeated one after the other in his mind, seemingly without end. _This_ was what created and destroyed everything for him.

After some minutes he came out of his funk and said the first thing that came out from his brain. "But it does not make any sense! It could have been literally _anyone_ in the Wizarding World! Why did he come for _me_ , for _my family_!? Why!"

Anger and sadness were equally pouring from his being, and an overwhelming sensation started to encompass his body. He remembered, from the Dementor induced nightmares that his mother shouted to Voldemort to kill _her_ in _his_ place!

So, the logical conclusion was that the Dark Lord was specifically after him, and no one else. He suddenly wanted to break something, to let out all the grief that was accumulated in his mind and his heart at the situation and to scream in rage.

The Headmaster put a calming hand on his shoulder, and at the same time hit him with a wandless and wordless soothing charm, seeing after some seconds that both of the gestures had the desired effects.

"Harry, can you hear me?"

"Yes… yes, Headmaster. I do not know what was happening."

The old wizard answered him. "A simple yet very high fluctuation in your magical core. I sent a charm that should be helping your emotions to become stable again, and I am sorry to have done it without asking for permission."

"In this situation, thank you."

Dumbledore understood the underline meaning to that. _Thank you but if you try to do something to condition me in a normal state there will be problems on the horizon._

"Please, continue." Harry took a deep breath to help himself calm further. "I assume that there is more."

"Unfortunately, yes."

"As soon as Voldemort knew of the prophecy his, to use a muggle wording, modus operandi changed."

The young wizard was interested. "In what sense… it changed?"

"Let me go back a bit Harry, even if it will delay our conclusions." The Headmaster looked at him again. "It will help you to understand."

The boy on the bed nodded, he had to admit that he was curious about the origin of Lord Voldemort. Not because he wanted to emulate him, obviously, but as the Headmaster said, to understand what made him what he had been.

"Tom Riddle." The strange name resonated in Harry's mind. "This was the original name of Lord Voldemort, Thomas Marvolo Riddle, as you well know."

Harry's head bobbed again, he recalled well the conversation in the Chamber of Secrets almost two years before.

"He is not a pureblood, but instead, he is a half-blood, like you, or me, son of Merope Gaunt, a squib from that disgraced family, and Tom Riddle, who was a muggle, as you again know."

He continued. "What probably you do not know is that Merope coerced and forced Tom to love her with Amortentia. Do you know what that is?"

Harry put his hands forward in a sudden stopping motion. "Wait, wait a minute! Are you seriously telling me that Voldemort's father and mother were together only due to a… love potion?"

"The most potent love potion that any wizard or witch has ever created in time." He almost chuckled at the stunned expression on Harry's face. "May I ask how you know about it? It is not covered until our sixth year."

Here the raven-haired wizard grimaced a bit. "When I went down to the Chamber after the Goblet… did what it did… my mind had become a little paranoid, Headmaster."

At the man nodding he continued, with difficulty, since he still had some problem in explaining himself and his feelings to the others. Dumbledore, at the same time, swore on his magic that he would not disappoint the young man anymore, since, due to his misgivings, he had suffered _so_ much.

"The first thing I thought was how to procure myself at least a meal a day. Dobby would have been too evident, especially since the other elves like to _talk_ a lot, and since he works for you. So, when Daphne -he sighed thinking of her, moving his gaze to her persona for an instant- started to bring me food… well, it was not that I did not trust her, or Tracey, or Astoria for that matter, but I had to be completely sure that they were not laced with anything."

Dumbledore seemed to wilt on the inside, showing its mood only with the disappearance of the blinking in his eyes. _No one_ in his school, in _any_ school, should _ever_ have to confront himself with _those_ problems.

"So, after the first meal I had down thee the first book I decided to take out of the library -he admitted with an embarrassed expression- was one on how to detect poisons and potions inside anything. And Amortentia was right there in the first chapter, and I have to say that it appalled me to know that it was not a restricted potion."

The Headmaster nodded sagely at that. "Yes Harry, banning or not that specific potion has been a thorn in my, and many other, sides for a long time. Unfortunately, as you rightly said on _that_ day, common sense is not fully rooted in the minds of wizardkind."

"However, going back to Tom Riddle, when his mother told his father that she had laced him with the potion, he abandoned her, while she was still pregnant, and almost near giving birth, on the spot, without looking back."

Harry did not know how to feel about it. On one side, it was what she rightly deserved for _enslaving_ a man against his will, and technically raping him, but from the other, the memories of his mother trying her best to protect him in front of certain death made him think about what would have happened if she was not left alone in those days.

Dumbledore continued. "Unfortunately, Merope Gaunt died for complications after the birth of Tom, and the little boy, without having any living relative that was in agreement to adopt and look after him, went to, I have to admit, one of the worst orphanages that were around in Britain at that time."

Harry was again speechless by the revelation. He could imagine how it would have been to live and grow up in a bad orphanage. Unloved, with uncaring people, that maybe bullied him, roughed him up every day, without… friends, without… anything, or… anyone…

He was not obviously justifying his actions, absolutely not. What he did afterward, when he was an adult, was nothing short of a monstrosity. At the same time, however, slowly, but decisively, Harry came to a shocking and revolting conclusion.

 _He could have been like him_!

 _Like Voldemort_!

His eyes immediately shot up to the Headmaster, which now had a look full of regret on his face.

"Do you _understand_ what you could have caused by leaving me at the Dursley's?"

He shivered at what he was about to say. "I could have been _like him_! That is why he told me that we were similar, in the Chamber! Oh Merlin… I could have been a deranged man like Voldemort himself, bent on revenge without any care… Oh Merlin…"

Dumbledore twinkle returned full force, and Harry felt the pressure of the calming charm decrease his frantic emotions to a more normal level, for the second time. He was really near the breaking point, and he did not know how much his mind could take, but he _needed_ to know the truth!

Seeing that, again, the storm had passed, Dumbledore chuckled deprecatingly, like all the faults he committed in his long life were suddenly multiplied by a hundred. "You would never have been like him, Harry." He said with absolute conviction. "I know the depth of your morals, and you would _never_ , _ever_ , transform yourself into the monster that Lord Voldemort became."

"You can not know that."

"I can, Harry. And there is a simple reason for it."

Harry made a gesture for him to move on, not fully convinced. "I will not ask you to trust me, Harry, because our current relationship will not permit it, but I can surely ask you to trust the young Miss Greengrass."

"…Daphne?"

"Do you really think that if you had the potential to be that person filled with so much evil since the beginning, someone like her would have been interested in you?"

Harry thought about that, it made sense from a certain point of view. Daphne and Astoria were purebloods, but friends with Tracey, who was a half-blood, and interested in him, _Harry_ , not the Boy-Who-Lived or other stupid names that the press liked to call him.

And she demonstrated more than one time that she was _above_ the general idiocy of the Wizarding World, since their first meeting in the second year.

He looked at her again, while she was discussing something with her friend, and Astoria was pestering her for attention. Just that simple moment managed to bring a smile to his lips.

Dumbledore was elated at the calm expression that Harry was now displaying. Especially since not even two minutes ago he seemed ready to blow up something. Miss Greengrass was a true boon for him.

Coughing a bit, to get his attention back from the young lady -he had been young too, many years ago- the Headmaster continued. "For the rest, I see that you reached that conclusion by yourself. Yes Harry, after the very unfortunate passing of your parents I thought that placing you in the muggle world, and with your mother's sister, was the best choice for you."

He grimaced, full of guilt. "Obviously, I was wrong."

Harry wanted to snort at the old wizard in front of him, chastise him, deride him for his short-sightedness, but it would have had no good result at all. Doing it would not give him back any of the years spent in the cupboard, as a slave to his ungrateful remaining family. He could vent by himself by blasting some rocks or whatever else crossed his mind to release some steam.

"But I digress, before the awful events of that cursed night happened, you have to know that the charisma of the Dark Lord was incredibly well attuned to the pureblood faction of our society, and I think that you have already seen that."

"Unfortunately, he was so good at convincing and manipulating people that even students which finished Hogwarts with him started to follow his example. And some of the others who started in your parents' generation were approached gently, inducted, controlled and given powerful positions inside his organization, each one of them drinking from his speeches about the preservation of the Magical World and vain promises of authority."

Harry had to recognize it, his enemy was truly a formidable one in the public relationships department. Compared to him, he was the exact opposite, hating the spotlight and wanting no more than living his life fully and without any pressure.

"Unfortunately, as I said in the beginning, one of these students managed to hear part of the prophecy that night, just the first two verses." Here his shoulders sagged. "But, unfortunately, enough to send the Dark Lord in a frenzy that had no definite pattern."

"As you can imagine, he started to search frantically for who could have been _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, born as the seventh month approached_ , and started killing indiscriminately everyone who blocked his path, while before he was persecuting only the ones who opposed his vision."

"Since he was a little boy, and a student, he was always afraid of death, of being a nobody and disappearing without leaving some kind of trace in Wizarding history. So, in his eyes, everyone became immediately a potential target."

Harry did not know what to think. It was all fault of the Dark Lord for being a crazy bastard and this _student_ who decided that having a child killed could get him a good reward in the circle of a maniac Dark Lord.

The only thing that came out from his mouth was "Who?"

Remorse was coming in waves from the centenarian wizard in front of him. "I can not say his name here Harry, but, you know him well."

* * *

Daphne was watching her boyfriend with apprehension while conversing with Tracey and at the same time while being annoyed by Astoria. However, her behavior was helping in her own special way in distracting her mind from the darker thoughts that her brooding mood would have created. Luna was being Luna, and no one exactly knew what was going on in her brain at any given moment. Did not diminish her company at all, though.

She realized, together with the others, that whatever words were being exchanged inside the silencing barrier, they must have been something life-changing for Harry. Probably, she thought with a mental snort, other and more difficult tasks for him to do in his future.

However, he was not alone anymore! She would accompany him to the ends of the world if that meant solving forever his problems with Voldemort. It was almost surprising that, after a long year of admiration and infatuation towards him, their relationship came along so smoothly after he relaxed around her. Her poor Harry was always overly tense when they decided to be alone together to have a simple chat, or even better, to have some girlfriend/boyfriend time.

The first time it happened he was walking on eggshells around her, always afraid that something he would say would enrage or annoy her, or worse, that she would go away and leave him alone again.

Luckily, he was a boy with a good head on his shoulder, a strange thing to say due to the behavior of many of the others, who after seeing the _developments_ in hers and other girls' bodies started acting stupid in order to try to attract their attention.

So, after a good snogging session, and a good talking session, she managed to make him understand that no one was perfect, and errors were always around the corners in relationships. She asked what he would do if he did something that she did not like.

His answer was simple. "Everything to try and make it up to you."

She smiled because her answer was the exact same. Only then he understood that she wanted an equal partner, not a slave, not an overlord, just a partner to live together at her side, maybe happily ever after, if the Fates agreed with that view.

From that day on, something in Harry changed, for the better. He was straighter in his posture, a bit more convincing when expressing his ideas, and a good conversationalist on various topics. It was almost _magical_ how he, with her help, managed to change himself in just a small number of weeks.

His ex- _friends_ had instead only reinforced his insecurities, playing with his emotions and guilting him using his gentle behavior of wanting the people around him to accept him. So, instead of pushing him to do better, they pushed him deeper into the hole. Naturally, his conditioning thanks to his horrid family did not help at all.

She reached that conclusion when he, during one of their _private_ moments in the Chamber, said, emotionally. "Thank you, Daphne. You do not know how much you helped me in these last years. I can not imagine how far I could have gone without your hidden support."

When she asked him to explain it he said that when Weasley started being afraid of him about the Parseltongue episode, and when Granger said that -it is dark magic because it is written in some book, so it is better that you do not do that anymore Harry-, and more, with the broom episode the following year, and now this Tournament… his mind was starting to go into gloomier and gloomier places, and it was only thanks to her, and Tracey by extension, that he managed to remain afloat.

All these sacrifices, just because _he did not want to lose another friend any longer_.

That broke the young witch's heart in millions of pieces, and she engulfed him in the strongest, biggest and most significant hug that she had ever given him. They were both crying at the time, to release their emotions and both felt a little bit closer, having declared what they meant for each other, Daphne having done it first with her -Tracey's- confession.

She was, however, brought out from her reminiscing of the past month and a half when she saw his boyfriend looking murderously at Snape and then starting hyperventilating, his pupils dilated. She could _feel_ the accumulated Magic in his body _pressed_ , _pushed_ , _tried to find an outlet_ , _anything_ to get free!

Daphne noticed the two previous episodes, but this one seemed off-scale. In fact, after a few seconds ozone could be smelled in the little medical room, a distinct scent which became more and more pronounced, until a blinding magical discharge inundated the place in white, accompanied by a _very loud_ sound of thunder which destroyed half of the windows in the room.

Luckily the explosion happened towards the exterior, so no glass splinters and pieces came out upon them.

At the same time of the thunder, an even _louder_ piercing scream of pain echoed among the walls. It was a desperate, devastating sound, and Daphne had wanted to rush to his side almost immediately after the event, but McGonagall managed to restrain her, aided by Tracey, since it could have been dangerous for her.

"I know that it is difficult Miss Greengrass but let the Headmaster do his work. Whatever is happening, you know Harry will never forgive himself if he hurt you with something like that." He was stupidly, adorably noble like that, and that convinced her. But she could not wait for the discussion with Dumbledore to finish since she just _knew_ that he had the need of having her next to him.

Just like her need was to have him next to her.

Everyone in the room managed to regain their view in half a minute or so, blinking out the white spots in their eyes, and Madame Pomfrey immediately rushed towards Harry's bed to check his and the Headmaster conditions. Daphne, once she managed to dislodge herself from the grip of the others, ran towards the bed, with her and Harry's other friends were hot on her heels, followed by some of the other professors.

It seemed that the wall behind him brunt the worst part of the energy release, now showing a blackened vaguely star-shaped figure, and Dumbledore was already working on him, trying to stabilize his magical core emissions to a normal level.

Almost incredibly, Harry remained in a semi-conscious state through the whole ordeal, and Daphne was relieved to see that he was mostly unharmed, if not for his hair becoming even wilder and untamable.

After a moment, however, everyone noticed the change on his forehead.

Horrid looking black goo was pouring from his scar, which now was as red as a hot iron in a goblin furnace and looked very painful. His expression was frozen in a silent scream, his eyes wildly searching for something that probably only he could see, and his hands almost tearing apart the fabric of the sheets which were on his bed.

Seeing that Dumbledore whitened impossibly, his face becoming the same shade of his white beard, and Daphne could hear him muttering. "It is not possible… not possible…"

Careless of any kind of warning that the situation itself could suggest, her hands shot to his left one, managing to pry it from the bedding.

"Harry! Harry! Are you alright, Harry?!"

"No! Miss Greengrass, you must not…" Dumbledore's warning got lost in the loud voices that followed.

"What happened?"

"Why is he doing that?"

"Dumbledore?!"

But the Headmaster knew what the problem was, even if he had his suspicions but he did not want to admit it for fear of not being able to solve _that_ kind of problem.

Harry Potter was an _Horcrux_!

And now, it seemed that the magical discharge, paired with his extremely unstable state of mind, was managing to _chase_ Voldemort's soul _out_ of his scar!

For the first time in his long life, he did not know what to do, and how to save the remarkable wizard in front of him.

But, this time, Fate intervened in their help, in the form of the young blonde-haired girl which held Harry Potter's heart within her hands. The simple fact that she was so brave to come to his side even in this dark situation pushed him to do _more_.

Fingering his Elder Wand again, he sent as much magic as he could towards the core of the boy, trying to even the energy output and not make him go into shock. He could feel that _Hogwart_ _s_ too was helping him to stabilize Harry's core! In the meanwhile, he shouted to Harry, trying to overcome the haziness that the Horcrux created in his mind to try and resist the expulsion, seeing it as an occasion to take control of the body.

"Harry! You have already defeated him many times! You can do it again!"

"…"

"Harry!" Now, this was Daphne, trying frantically in her mind to find a way to help him. "Please! Do not lose yourself!"

The other professors were slowly descending into something alike of a controlled panic episode. No one, except Snape and Dumbledore, knew what that black slime was, but it was causing Mr. Potter extreme pain, and it seemed that he was losing a fight within himself.

Tracey embraced Astoria tightly, both with tears coming out from their already reddened eyes. It _hurt_ seeing someone you care in that state of pain and not being able to do _anything_ to help him. She could not imagine how Daphne was feeling about that.

It seemed that Harry was starting to relax more and more, but that was not a good sign if paired with the fact that the black and foul tar substance was slowly going back _into_ the scar while another bit was inching towards the place where Daphne's hands were touching Harry!

The Headmaster went again on total alert, seeing that probably Voldemort's soul was going to try and possess another vessel, and shouted to the girl. "Miss Greengrass! You must not touch Harry now! It is extremely dangerous!"

But Daphne was not listening, even if she noticed the goo advancing towards her. She did not know what that obscene thing was, but getting all the courage that she could muster, she kept on trying to reassure her boyfriend, both physically and emotionally. Consequences be damned!

Dumbledore was starting to lose hope, and he did not want to use the extreme solution of killing the only son of Lily and James to aid the war against Voldemort, before the possession of him, or Miss Greengrass, took place. He would not use it unless it was the _very last_ thing to do!

No one of them was managing to overcome, with their words, the Horcrux whispers that the sliver of Voldemort in the scar was injecting into Harry's mind.

All of a sudden, Luna got up from the floor, her eyes suddenly _focused_ and _shining_ an eerie silvery light and approached her fighting best friend, her _brother_ in all but blood!

She climbed on his bed and grasped his still twisted face with both hands. She exchanged a glance with her other friend, Daphne, and nodded to her with a smile.

She spoke with an almost ethereal voice. "Do you want to leave everyone to him?"

"Do you want to _lose_ everyone to him?"

 _That_ had an effect. Harry jerked and fixed his eyes with hers.

"Then _fight him_!"

Harry jerked again, managing to close his mouth, but still gritting his teeth from the pain. Slowly, he lifted his other hand to his chest, and with a jolt, he activated his runic matrix.

The wonder of seeing such a fine masterpiece of magical art again almost made everyone forget the actual situation, but the attention of everyone was brought back instantly to the matter at hand, since the color of the matrix went from a gentle blue to a deep red in an instant, after Harry pushed against the outermost layer.

Suddenly, he spoke, with a strong tone, which did not leave any spot for misunderstandings. He, finally, was back in control of his body and mind.

"I know _what_ you are. I know _how afraid_ you are. I know _how vile_ you are!"

The matrix seemed to condense into his hand, becoming smaller and smaller, before instantly dividing and encompassing every one of his fingers. That brought another episode of awe among the professors, it was runic manipulation taken to its extremes!

"I know that _now_ I am poison to you!"

"And, you _will not touch Daphne_!"

He brought his hand to his scar, _grabbing_ the tar and then he _pulled hard_!

A primal scream of pain erupted again from his throat, but he did not let go, willingly shifting all the settings in the matrix beyond the boundaries of safety. What now was in his hands was _not_ his blood mixed with basilisk venom, it was _only_ the venom!

He could feel it seeping into his skin, and he knew that in a minute or so he would have been dead. He had to be fast, hoping that he would manage do destroy Voldemort in that span of time.

For this instance, he could feel that finally something was going right, when, after just ten or twelve seconds the presence in the scar disappeared completely, with an enraged shriek which reverberated in the little room and a black shadow fleeing through one of the broken windows, sending deep shivers of fright down everyone's bodies.

His hand immediately shot into the matrix putting it into full reverse and hoping that the Phoenix's Tears would again save him from doom.

Before blacking out, he managed to send what he hoped was a smile towards the tear-stained visage of Daphne.

His last thought was that he would have to do something _big_ to make her forgive him for the scare that he gave her seconds before.

Then, darkness claimed him.

* * *

 **END OF CHAPTER FOUR**

* * *

 **Chapter Released on 24/09/18**

This concludes the fourth chapter of this fanfiction, a good 10k words excluding the two AN at the beginning and the end of it.

As stated, the story will cover all the Goblet of Fire book (and movie), mixing elements from both. I hope that I'll manage to get the next parts as long as this one and that I will be able to maintain a good update schedule. I'm sure that many of you may have questions on what really happened with Harry's runic matrix and so on, but rest assured, the next chapters will slowly unravel the mystery.

A request for all you readers! On my profile (where you also will always able to find the status and the amount of work done for each fanfiction chapter) there is a poll regarding your preferred chapter length! Go and vote so I can best adapt my future stories to what you reader desire as an update! Naturally, bear in mind that longer chapters will require more time and vice versa.

I hope that you liked it! Don't forget to leave a Review!

See ya at the next one! Ciao!


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